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

Mar. 12, 2022 - Returning to the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center for the second time this week, the RV/No. 13 Loras College men's volleyball team (16-3, 5-2 CCIW) took on the Titans from Illinois Wesleyan University (6-11, 1-6 CCIW) on Saturday afternoon. The Duhawks completed the season sweep over the Titans, downing the conference foe in straight sets for the second time in the regular season. 

The first set got underway with the Duhawks going on a four-point scoring run that saw Dorian Fiorenza and Tucker Ziegenhorn floor kills before widening their lead further at 8-3 as Michael Dziewior sparked another four-point run. With Fiorenza at the service line, the Duhawks scored three straight on aces with all three coming at the expense of IWU's Luke Hartke. Loras continued to dominate through the middle of the set, gaining an eight point edge at 23-15, oustcoring the Titans 6-1 before Andres Martinez put down a kill to close out the set with a final score of 25-19. 

Illinois Wesleyan kicked the second set off by scoring three straight but Fiorenza spoiled their run with a pair of kills and two Titan errors to see Loras grab the lead back at 4-3. The Titans stayed close with the Duhawks in the early portion of the set, taking a two-point lead at 8-6, but the lead was short-lived as the Duhawks scored four in a row on kills from David Beach, Jake Filotto and Fiorenza in the run. In the middle of the set, the Duhawks' offense took off, outscoring the Titans 7-1 with Beach, Dziewior, Ziegenhorn and Corey Mayotte flooring a kill apiece in the run. As was the story in the set prior, Martinez put an end to the game with a kill to secure the 25-16 set two victory. 

The Duhawks took an immediate 6-0 lead at the beginning of the third set, scoring four of the six on kills from Patrick Mahoney, Fiorenza and Ziegenhorn. Illinois Wesleyan grabbed five points back of their own as the Duhawks continued to pull away and taking an eventual 10 point lead at 16-6, taking advantage of the Titans' offensive struggles. The match came to a close with the Duhawks going on a 4-1 run, taking advantage of three straight IWU errors and ending the match with a kill from Fiorenza to take the match 3-0 with a final set score of 25-14. 

The Loras offense hit .452 percent in the match while holding the Titans to just .011 percent, led by Fiorenza who had a match-leading 11 kills in the match. Mayotte floored seven of his own and was followed by Martinez who added six. At the service line, Fiorenza put down a trio of aces while Mahoney and Filotto floored one each. Defensively, the Duhawks tallied eight blocks in the game with Martinez and Ziegenhorn each posting four while Mahoney joined with a pair of his own. Mayotte led the match with nine digs to his name, followed by libero Cameron Menini. At setter, Beach assisted on 31 of the Duhawks' 43 kills in the match. 

The Duhawks are back in action on Friday, Mar. 18 as they play host to the top-ranked team in NCAA Division III, the No. 1 Dominican University Stars. The match is scheduled for a 7:00 PM start inside the Lillis Athletic & Wellness Center.