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

Feb. 6, 2022 - The RV/No. 16 Loras College men's volleyball team (6-0, 0-0 CCIW) collected their sixth straight victory of the season on Sunday as they wrapped up their weekend in their home invitational. With Sunday's pair of sweeps, the Duhawks have yet to drop a set in 322 days, dating back to a 3-1 victory over North Park University on Mar. 24, 2021. 

In their first match of the day, the Duhawks squared off with the Fontbonne University Griffins, who were receiving votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national rankings and ranked No. 14 in the frogjumpvolleyball.com Top-20. Fontbonne jumped ahead early in the first set, scoring three straight on a pair of kills and an ace before Andres Martinez floored a kill of his own to put the Duhawks on the board. The Griffins held the lead until back-to-back errors gave the Duhawks two in a row to tie the score at four a side. The game stayed evenly matched through the middle of the set with six lead changes before the Duhawks grabbed five in a row on kills from Tyler Kratocvhil, Patrick Mahoney and Tucker Ziegenhorn while errors continued to be an issued for Fontbonne, tallying two in the five-point run. With a four point lead at 19-16, the DUhawks continued to capitalize on Fontbonne errors while Joe Horn and Dorian Fiorenza added a pair of kills before Kratochvil floored an ace to widen the Loras lead to seven at 23-16. Fiorenza closed out the set with a huge kill from a David Beach pass to take set one 25-18. 

The second set saw the two sides trade blows early, tying the score 11 times before the Griffins took a two-point lead at 13-11 after scoring on a pair of kills from Joseph Huster and Ryan Lively. The score again tied at 13-13 after a Fontbonne servicer error put Fiorenza at the service line where he put down an ace. A Loras attacking error gave the Griffins the lead once more but it was the last time they held the lead in the set, as the Duhawks' offense came alive in the ending moments of the set, outscoring Fontbonne 7-2 to jump ahead 20-16. Kratochvil secured the 25-21 victory in the second set to go ahead 2-0 going into the third. 

Fontbonne took a 2-1 lead early in the third set but the Duhawks took it right back after scoring five straight, spearheaded by Ziegenhorn who floored back-to-back kills in the run while Horn put down an ace to round out the run and bring the score to 6-2. The Griffins overcame the deficit in the middle of the set, coming back to tie the score at 12-12 but failed to take the lead as Martinez sparked a three-point run to put the Duhawks up by three at 15-12. A Fontbonne attacking error followed by a Kratochvil kill extended the Duhawks' lead to seven points at 21-14 before the match closed on a perfect serve from Kratochvil for an ace to see the Duhawks down the Griffins in three. 

The Duhawks hit a solid .394 in the match, posting 35 kills led by Fiorenza who had 10 while Kratocvhil added seven and Ziegenhorn with six. Loras was excellent at the service line, flooring nine aces with Fiorenza tallying three while Martinez and Kratochvil had two each, joined by Mahoney and Horn who each had one. Defensively, Kratochvil had three blocks and was joined by Ziegenhorn who had one while libero Kevin Kessel put up seven digs, followed closely by Beach who had six. 

In their second match of the day, the Duhawks went up against the Edgewood College Eagles and got off to an immediate 3-0 lead on a match-opening Eagles error followed by a Ziegenhorn kill and a Beach ace. Loras held the lead through the middle of the set and went up by six on a bad serve off the hand of Edgewood's Ben Miller that was followed by a Kratochvil kill to bring the score to 14-8. The Eagles made a slight comeback soon thereafter, scoring three straight to come within four at 16-12 but the Duhawks were too much for the Eagles as they outscored them 6-2 to close the set with a final score of 25-18. 

Edgewood got off to a two-point lead to start the second set but a Mahoney kill followed by an Eagles attacking error tied the score back up at two apiece. Loras went ahead by two at 6-4 as Kratochvil started a three-point run that saw Ziegenhorn add a kill, as well. Edgewood tied the score at 7-7 but the Duhawks took advantage of errors and jumped ahead to an eight-point lead at 16-8 after outscoring the Eagles 9-1 with five of the nine points coming off of Edgewood errors. The Duhawks continued to widen their lead at the end of the set, making easy work of the Eagles and taking set two 25-15. 

The third set of the match saw the Duhawks again go up by three early after the set opened with an Edgewood error that was followed by a Beach ace and a Kratochvil kill. Edgewood came back within one at 5-4 but a service error and a kill from Clayton Nix took the Duhawks back up by three at 7-4. The Eagles stayed tight with the Duhawks in the middle of the set, coming within two at 11-9 but again the Duhawks' offense excelled with four kills from Corey Mayotte, Kratochvil and Mahoney to go up 15-10. With the Duhawks staying in the lead through the end of the match, the two sides traded scoring before Matt Jordan shut the door on the match with a kill to see the Duhawks collect their sixth-straight sweep to open the season. 

Mahoney led the match with 10 kills while Kratochvil posted nine and Mayotte with eight. The Duhawks floored three aces with Beach tallying two while Michael Dziewior added one. Mahoney also locked down the defense at the net with three blocks while Dziewior and Mayotte had two each. Beach and Kessel helped defensively with 10 digs apiece, followed by Mayotte who added nine in the victory. 

The Duhawks meet back up with the Eagles for another tilt on Thursday, Feb. 10. The match is scheduled for a 5:30 PM start in Madison, Wis.