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

CHICAGO, Ill. (Feb. 19, 2022) - In their second College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) matchup of the week, the RV/No. 12 Loras College men's volleyball team (11-1, 2-0 CCIW) took on the Vikings from North Park University (6-3, 0-3 CCIW). The Duhawks secured their 11th victory of the season as junior outside hitter Dorian Fiorenza paved the way with a season-high 18 kills in the match. 

Freshman Corey Mayotte put the Duhawks on the board first in the beginning of the match with a kill that was followed by a Patrick Mahoney kill to put Loras up 2-0. Loras maintained the lead despite the Vikings' early pressure but a four-point run put the Duhawks up by five at 9-4, seeing Andres Martinez notch a pair of kills in the run. North Park came back in the middle of the set, coming within one at 11-10 but the Duhawks ran away with a six point lead late in the set after scoring five in a row with Mayotte tallying a kill and a service ace while Fiorenza added a kill of his own in the run. Fiorenza put an end to the set at 25-19 with another kill to go ahead 1-0. 

North Park's Emmanuel Eugene floored a kill at the beginning of the second set but the Duhawks took advantage of a Mahoney kill and three straight North Park errors to go back ahead 4-1. North Park came back in the middle of the set, though, taking a lead at 7-6 before the score tied three times. The Vikings prevailed from the back-and-forth scoring and gained a four point edge on the Duhawks after scoring three in a row on a Eugene kill and a duo of Duhawk errors. Ahead by seven at the end of the set, the Vikings gave up four in a row on errors with match point hanging above their heads before Fiorenza pulled the Duhawks within two at 24-22 but another Eugene kill gave North Park the 25-22 set win. 

The Vikings jumped ahead early in the third set, taking a two point lead at 5-3 but Mayotte jump started a three point run that saw Mahoney tally an ace in the run as the Duhawks took the lead once again at 6-5. In the middle of the set, Loras pulled away by four on back to back errors by North Park but the Vikings' offense brought them back within two at 13-11 on a pair of kills from Quinn Robinson and Eugene. Later in the set, Loras continued to widen their lead as they outscored the Vikings 7-1 to go up by eight at 20-12. The set closed out with a pair of kills from Tyler Kratochvil and Fiorenza, who put the Duhawks up 2-1 with the 25-17 set victory. 

David Beach got the ball rolling in the fourth set with a service ace to put Loras up from the jump but North Park's Eugene single-handedly put the Vikings in the lead at 6-2, flooring five kills as the Vikings outscored the Duhawks 6-1. Kills from Fiorenza and Joe Horn, followed by a North Park hitting error cut the Duhawks' deficit to one at 6-5. Fiorenza continued to lead the Duhawks' offense in the middle of the set, drawing the score to an even 9-9 after the Duhawks scored three in a row with Fiorenza flooring an ace and a kill in the run. North Park again gained a lead at 13-11 but the Duhawks came alive, putting down a staggering seven kills in an eight point scoring run as the trio of Fiorenza, Mayotte and Mahoney excelled for the Duhawks to bring the score to 19-13. At the end of the set, Mahoney brought the score to match point with a kill before a Eugene hitting error for North Park drew the match to a close with a final set score of 25-20 to secure the 3-1 match win. 

Fiorenza led the match with 18 kills on the day while Mahoney added 10 and Mayotte with nine. Four Duhawks recorded an ace apiece in the match while defensively, Mahoney held down the net with four blocks, joined by Martinez who had three and Horn who posted two. Setter Horn assisted on 46 of the Duhawks' 53 kills in the match, marking the second time the junior has recorded 46 assists in a match this season. Mayotte led the Duhawks in digs with 11 to his name while libero Kevin Kessel had seven, followed by Beach who added six. 

The Duhawks are back in action on  Tuesday, Feb. 22 as they travel to Rock Island, Ill. to take on the Augustana College Vikings in their third conference matchup in a week's time. The match is slated to begin at 7:00 PM.