Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 15, 2022) - The RV/No. 12 Loras College men's volleyball team (10-1, 1-0 CCIW) opened College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) competition Tuesday night in Bloomington, Ill. as they took on the Titans from Illinois Wesleyan University (5-6, 0-1 CCIW). The Duhawks earned their eighth straight set victory of the season, downing the Titans 25-20, 25-14, 25-16. 

The first set saw the Titans score first on a Julian Perez kill but a pair of IWU errors gave the Duhawks two free points and a one point lead early. The Titans pulled away soon after, as their offense came alive to score five in a row, flooring three kills and an ace in the run to go up by four at 9-5. Immediately after, the Duhawks rallied back to score six straight on kills from Andres Martinez and Dorian Fiorenza with Corey Mayotte adding an ace in the run to go ahead by two at 11-9. Illinois Wesleyan stayed close with the Duhawks through the middle of the set, clawing their way back to take the lead at 16-15 after scoring a trio of points on a Loras error, a Javier Romano kill and a Michael Eastman ace. The Duhawks proved to be too much for the Titans to handle in the end of the set, pulling away by six after tallying five in a row and outscoring the Titans 7-3 in the closing moments of the set with Fiorenza throwing down a kill to give the Duhawks a 25-20 victory. 

Michael Dziewior put the Duhawks on the board first in the beginning of the second set with a kill, with Loras pulling away by four at 6-2 after back-to-back kills from Fiorenza and Mayotte that were followed by a duo of Titan errors. In the middle of the set, the Duhawks continued to dominate the Titans, scoring eight to their two to go up 14-5 with David Beach excelling at the service line with a pair of aces in the run. The Duhawks continued to put pressure on the Titans, taking advantage of Illinois Wesleyan's offensive woes as they hit -.038 percent in the second set to help the Loras claim the 25-14 set win. 

The two sides traded blows in the third set of the match as the score tied six times before Tucker Ziegenhorn ignited a four point scoring run that saw Fiorenza and Jake Filotto add kills with the run rounded out by a Titans attacking error to go ahead 10-6. Loras widened their lead to six points at 16-10 as they outscored IWU 5-1 with Ziegenhorn and Dziewior flooring kills in the run. The Duhawks continued to own the third set in the final moments of the match with Patrick Mahoney putting down a pair of kills as the Duhawks went on a 5-2 run to close out the match with Dziewior solidifying the 25-16 win to earn the sweep. 

The Duhawks' offense took control of the match, hitting .304 percent to the Titans' .068 percent average. Fiorenza led the match with nine of the Duhawks' 36 kills in the match while Dziewior added six and Ziegenhorn who had five. Beach tied a career-best performance at the service line, leading the match with three aces while Fiorenza, Horn and Mayotte each had one. Martinez was a wall at the net defensively, recording a season-best six total blocks in the match, joined by Mayotte who had three and Fiorenza who added two. Setter Joe Horn added 26 assists to the Duhawks' offensive strength in the match while Fiorenza and libero Cameron Menini led the charge with seven digs apiece. 

Loras continues CCIW action on Saturday, Feb. 19 as they travel to Chicago, Ill. to take on the North Park University Vikings. The match is slated for a 5:00 PM start.