Men's Volleyball Sweeps Past Titans In Home Opener

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team extended its winning streak out to three after sweeping past first-year program Illinois Wesleyan.

Final: Fontbonne 3, Illinois Wesleyan 0

(25-17, 25-13, 25-18)

Set Breakdown

Set One – It was back and forth play early but a 3-0 run gave Fontbonne a 15-11 lead on a Titans attack error and that forced the Titans to take a timeout.

The Titans continued to hang around with Alec Mucha's kill trimming the deficit down to 20-17. However, the Griffins closed out the set on a 5-0 run for the opening set victory.

Statistically, it was one of the Griffins best sets totaling 13 kills and zero errors on 23 attempts for a .565 hitting percentage. The Titans fared well in its opener with 11 kills and a .269 hitting percentage.

Set Two – The offensive success for Fontbonne carried over into set two with the team owning a 14-6 lead on Cameron Graves' service ace.

They expanded its lead out to 19-10 on a block assist from Nate Paasch and Jacob Hartmann. It was all Fontbonne the rest of the way for the 25-13 win on Braden Woolsey's kill.

It was another near perfect set for Fontbonne with 10 kills and zero errors on 15 attempts for a game-high .667 hitting percentage.

Set Three – The Griffins jumped out early again in the third and midway through the set they led 15-10 on Paasch's kill. Illinois Wesleyan tried to stay within striking distance but forcing a fourth set was not in the cards with Fontbonne going on for the 25-18 set and match win.

Head-to-Head

• Fontbonne set a new season-high in a three-set match with 37 kills.
• The team also collected a season-high with a .517 hitting percentage.
• The Griffins came away with 22 digs and six total blocks overall.
• Illinois Wesleyan ended with 28 kills and a .160 hitting percentage in its first match.

Illinois Wesleyan Leaders

• Michael Eastman tied for the game-high with 11 kills and a .391 hitting percentage.
• Setters Bradley Benson and Dominic Bennett contributed 12 and 11 assists, respectively.

Fontbonne Leaders 

• Ryan Lively set a new season-high with 11 kills and a .786 hitting percentage in a three-set match.
• Braden Woolsey had a strong outing with a season-high eight kills and .700 hitting percentage.
• Cameron Graves finished with six kills and Paasch added five.
• Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell totaled handed out a game-high 30 assists.
• At the net, Paasch and Jacob Hartmann tied with three block assists.
• Zach Rothstein finished with a game-high seven digs.

Up Next

The Griffins jump back into conference play on Saturday when they'll host Mount Union for a double header contest starting at 10 a.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the men's volleyball team.

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