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

Feb. 5, 2022 - Receiving votes in this week's American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) rankings and earning a No. 16 ranking in the latest FrogJump Volleyball Top-20 poll, the Loras College men's volleyball team (4-0, 0-0 CCIW) kicked off the Loras Invite Saturday. The Duhawks took back-to-back three-set sweeps over the Marian University Sabres (9-1, 1-0 NACC) and the Adrian College Bulldogs (3-8, 0-0 MIAA). In their first four matches of the season, the Duhawks have yet to drop a set. 

The first match of the day saw the Duhawks go up against the Sabres from Marian University, where the Duhawks got on the board early on a pair of Marian errors to go up 2-0 from the jump. Loras wasted no time getting the offense going, outscoring the Sabres 7-1 with only two of the seven points coming from Marian errors as Dorian Fiorenza tallied two kills and Andres Martinez added one while Patrick Mahoney and Joe Horn floored two aces from the service line in the run to bring the score to 11-3. In the middle of the set, Marian came back within two at 16-14 but gave the Duhawks two points on errors while Horn put down another ace as they scored three in a row to go back up by five at 19-14. The Duhawks held on to the lead through the end of the set, seeing the set end on a Mahoney kill to give the Duhawks a 25-21 first set victory. 

The Sabres took advantage of Loras errors early in the second set to go ahead 3-1 and held onto the lead until committing three straight errors to put the Duhawks up by one at 7-6. The lead didn't last long, however, as Marian tallied five in a row on three Duhawk errors and a pair of kills from Derek Wills before a service error ended the run and put the Duhawks back within three at 11-8. Tucker Ziegenhorn followed with a kill of his own to pull within two but again the Sabres jumped ahead by three at 13-10. Tyler Kratochvil floored a kill assisted by Horn to spark a three-point scoring run for the Duhawks to tie the set back at 13 apiece but were unable to grab the lead again as the Sabres tallied two straight to bring the score to 16-14. For the second time of the set, the Duhawks took the lead after three kills from Martinez, Ziegenhorn and Fiorenza and an attacking error from Marian put the score at 18-16 in favor of Loras. The score tied three more times with the Sabres taking the lead once more before the Duhawks came back at the end of the set, outscoring the Sabres 4-2 with all four points coming from kills to see the Duhawks win 25-23. 

Two straight kills from Marian's Wills got the third set going in the Sabres favor but a Fiorenza kill and a Mahoney ace tied the score up 4-4. The score tied three times before Kratochvil and Mahoney tallied kills while David Beach recorded an ace to put the Duhawks up 11-8. Marian came right back with a kill of their own and took advantage of two straight errors to tie the score back at 11 a side until the Duhawks again went up by three at 15-12. Loras outscored Marian 5-2 with only one point coming from a Sabres error to pull ahead 20-16 and held the lead through the end of the match before Mahoney shut the door on the match with a kill to end the set 25-19 and win the match in straight sets. 

Fiorenza floored 14 kills in the match while Mahoney added eight and Kratochvil with six. The Duhawks recorded six aces in the match with Mahoney, Beach and Horn each talliying two apiece. Martinez led the Duhawks' defense at the net with three blocks while Ziegenhorn had three and Fiorenza with two. 

In the second match of the day, the Duhawks went toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs from Adrian College. The score tied seven times before Adrian went up by two on Loras errors but again the Duhawks tied the score on an Adrian service error and a kill from Horn to bring the score to 9-9. Adrian held a two point lead in the middle of the set before Fiorenza led the Duhawks on a four-point scoring runn with three kills while Martinez added one to put the Duhawks back in the lead at 14-12. Adrian came back and tied the score at 17-17 but another Fiorenza kill and a Kratocvhil ace gave the Duhawks the lead once more at 19-17. Adrian pulled back within one at 21-20 late in the set but a pair of Bulldog erros and kills from Martinez and Fiorenza catapulted Loras to a 25-21 first set victory. 

Adrian held a four point lead early in the second set, going up 6-2 before the Duhawks clawed their way back into the game by outscoring the Bulldogs 5-1 to tie the score at 9-9. Adrian held a one point lead until three straight kills from Kratochvil, Fiorenza and Horn put the Duhawks up again by two at 13-11. Loras continued to hold the lead through the middle of the set, extending the lead to four points at 16-12 but Adrian's offense came alive late at tied the score back up at 18-18. With the score tied, Fiorenza jump started a three-point run with a kill that was followed by two Adrian errors to put the Duhawks up by three at 21-18. Michael Dziewior ended the set with a kill to give the Duhawks the second set victory with a final score of 25-21. 

In the third set, Loras jumped ahead by five immediately with the set opening on an Adrian kill that was followed by a Dziewior kill and back-to-back service aces from the serve of Beach before another Bulldog error rounded out the five point run. The Duhawks continued to press the Bulldogs in the middle of the set, extended their lead to seven points after taking advantage of three errors in a row from Adrian to go ahead 13-6. Later in the set, the Duhawks took another three free points from the Bulldogs off of three errors that put the Duhawks up by nine at 20-11 before closing out the set by scoring four straight on a Bulldog error, kills from Dziewior and Fiorenza and a service ace by Keegan Godwin to bring the score to 25-14, giving the Duhawks their second sweep of the day. 

For the second time of the day, the Duhawks collected six service aces with Beach and Kratochvil tallying two while Horn and Godwin added one apiece. Fiorenza had a season-high 18 kills in the match as he led the Duhawks' offense that hit .346 in the match while Martinez recorded nine and Horn with five. Martinez locked down the net for the second match of the day with three blocks while Beach and Fiorenza tallied two each. Libero Kevin Kessel put up 11 digs in the match while Beach had nine and Horn with seven. 

The Duhawks continue competition in the second day of the Loras Invite on Sunday, Feb. 6 as they meet up with the RV Fontbonne University Griffins and the Edgewood College Eagles. Loras will face Fontbonne at 12:30 PM with the Edgewood match to follow. A reminder that masks are required to be worn by spectators inside the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center.