RIVER FOREST, Ill. (Feb. 25, 2023) – A staggering 29 kills from sophomore hitter Corey Mayotte led the (RV) Loras College men's volleyball team to a five-set victory over Dominican University on Saturday afternoon as the Duhawks fended off a comeback attempt from the Stars.  

Mayotte led the way for the Duhawks (10-2) on offense as they won the first two sets over the Stars (2-4) by scores of 25-22 and 25-19 before the home team took the next two 25-17 and 25-22 to force a decisive fifth set. The Duhawks got ahead early and maintained their lead for a 15-10 win in the fifth set to improve their record in five-setters to 2-0 so far in 2022-23.

Mayotte's 29 kills mark a new program record for a five-set match as the Geneva, Ill. native had his best game as a Duhawk to this point in his career. With three block assists, one solo block, and even one assist, he finished with 32.5 points, which also sets a program record for a five-set match. It's the only single-game point total of 30+-points in Loras history.

The Duhawks got out ahead early in set one versus the Stars, but they never quite managed to pull away as Dominican's Tanner Dahman helped keep his team in the game. Dahman led his team with 18 kills, including five in the opening frame, allowing the Stars to hand around and use a late 4-0 run to pull the score to 19-18 in favor of Loras.

That run wasn't enough as the Duhawks finished off the opening set with a win. The sides went back and forth for much of the second set, but the Duhawks finally got separated with a 6-0 run with senior setter Joe Horn on the serve as the lead grew to 23-14 as a result. Mayotte had four straight kills during that 6-0 stretch while junior hitter Tyler Kratochvil had the last two.

Dominican came out on fire in the third set and jumped out to an early lead that eventually grew to an 18-6 advantage. The Stars limited the Duhawks to just nine kills in the set, Loras' lowest of the match, to keep themselves from getting swept.

In set four, the Stars got ahead early again and never let the Duhawks get control of the pace. The sides tied with 12 kills apiece in the set, but Dahman scored the final three  points of the set for the Stars to fend off the Duhawks 25-22 and force a fifth set.

Loras started the fifth set with a 3-0 lead that was aided by a pair of attacking errors for the Stars. That lead proved pivotal as the Stars brought it back to a 7-6 game, but a kill from senior hitter Dorian Fiorenza started a 4-0 run for Loras that extended the lead to 11-6.

That run was the turning point as Loras escaped with a 15-10 victory to improve to 10-1 on the season.

Fiorenza finished with seven kills to rank second on the team behind Mayotte as Horn totaled 43 assists and 15 digs, which both led the team.

The Duhawks begin conference action this Wednesday, March 1, when they host Augustana College in their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) match of the season.