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

Feb. 25, 2022 - Returning home after nearly three weeks on the road, the No. 15/13 Loras College men's volleyball team (13-1, 3-0 CCIW) played host to the Rockford University Regents (2-14, 0-4 NACC) at the Lillis Athletic and Wellness Center Friday night. The Duhawks dominated through the duration on the match, earning a straight set victory over the Regents, marking their fourth win in a row. 

Michael Dziewior got the ball rolling in the first set with a kill assisted by Joe Horn to put the Duhawks on the board first before three straight kills from Tucker Ziegenhorn and Corey Mayotte, followed by a Rockford error put the Duhawks up 5-1 early. Rockford came back within two at 6-4 but the Duhawks' offense sparked on a pair of kills from Dorian Fiorenza, a Mayotte kill and a bad set from the Regent widened the Duhawks lead to six at 10-4. At the end of the set, the Duhawks continued to capitalize on Rockford errors, outscoring the Regents 6-2, with three of the points in the run coming from Rockford errors as the Duhawks took set one with a final score of 25-17. 

The second set saw both sides score early with Rockford gaining a one-point edge on Loras at 7-6 after scoring three in a row. The lead was short-lived as the score tied at 7-7 on a service error that ignited a 14-1 scoring run for the Duhawks with Dziewior and Jake Filotto tallying three kills apiece in the run while David Beach floored an ace at the service line to catapult the Duhawks to a comfortable 20-8 lead. Filotto closed the door on the set with a kill assisted by Beach to win the second set 25-13. 

Loras took another early lead in the third set, scoring six straight after Rockford hed a narrow 3-2 lead to jump back ahead 8-3 as the Regents continued to struggle offensively, recording three errors in the run. Loras continued to own the game in the middle of the set, scoring a trio of points on a Rockford service error, followed by a Beach ace and a Filotto kill to bring the score to 16-9. In back half of the set, the Duhawks proved to be too much for the Regents to handle, jumping ahead by 11 after outscoring the foe 7-2 to end the set as Clayton Nix solidified the sweep with a match-ending kill at 25-14. 

The Duhawks' offense hit a solid .341 in the match, flooring 40 kills as a team led by Filotto and Dziewior who recorded 10 each. At the service line, Beach put down a pair of aces while Filotto added one of his own. Defensively, Andres Martinez, Patrick Mahoney and Dziewior were a wall, notching two blocks apiece to hold the Regents to a mere -.025 hitting percentage. 

A twin bill of volleyball is on the docket for the Duhawks on Saturday, Feb. 26 as they square off against the Millikin University Big Blue at 4:00 PM followed by a non-conference matchup against the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy Eutectics at 6:30 PM. Both matches are set to be played inside the Lillis Athletic and Wellness Center.