KENOSHA, Wis. (March 8, 2023) – For the second time in as many matches, (RV) Loras College men's volleyball hung tough with a top 10 opponent, but the Duhawks fell short again on Wednesday in a 3-1 road loss to No. 4 Carthage College.
The Duhawks (12-3, 1-2 CCIW) took the first set on the road over the Firebirds (12-3, 4-0 CCIW) and played tight in each of the next three to more than hold their own against one of the better teams, not just in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), but in all of Division III.
Loras tallied more kills than the Firebirds in three of the four sets on Wednesday night, but they also outpaced Carthage with 29 attack errors compared to 17 and 15 service errors compared to just 11 for the home team.
The Duhawks got ahead early in the first set and managed to weather a 6-0 surge from the Firebirds that put them in front at 9-7. That run didn't get Loras down as it kept pace and got a pair of huge kills from senior hitter
Dorian Fiorenza in the later stages to build a 20-16 lead.
Each of Loras' next three points came via kills from junior hitter
Tyler Kratochvil, including a momentum shifter that ended a brief 3-0 run for the Firebirds. That big play, along with a set-clinching block from Fiorenza and senior middle blocker
Patrick Mahoney, helped the Duhawks take a 1-0 lead on the road.
Each of the next three sets played out similarly as the Duhawks and Firebirds went back and forth and never truly separated themselves from the other.
Loras held leads in the latter half of all three sets, but the Firebirds managed to string more points together to win each of them by margins of just four points or less.
Fiorenza led all players with 17 kills in the match as three Duhawks finished in double figures in that category. Kratochvil finished with 12 as sophomore hitter
Corey Mayotte added 11 to go along with two solo blocks.
The Duhawks return home on Saturday, March 11, to face North Park University at 2 P.M. in pursuit of ending a two-game skid to conference opponents.
