COLUMBUS — The Wittenberg men's volleyball team split a doubleheader against Hiram and Wabash on Saturday in a tri-match at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The Tigers swept Hiram 25-18, 25-10, 25-22 but fell 25-18, 23-25, 17-25, 29-27, 15-17 in a tight five-setter against Wabash.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (7-7 overall), Hiram (8-6 overall), Wabash (9-3 overall)
• Venue: Greater Columbus Convention Center - Columbus, Ohio

Stat Leaders - vs. Hiram

• Senior Tom Supan (Medina, Ohio/Medina) led the Tigers with 12 kills and 10 digs while hitting .550.
• Sophomore Eli Halverson (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) added 11 kills and 10 digs and hit .350. He also had a team-high three aces.
• Junior Luke Teters (Waterford, Ohio/Waterford) finished with seven kills.
• Senior Andrew Diaz de Padilla (Nipmo, Calif./Central Coast New Tech) tallied a team-high 26 assists.
• Connor Tilton and Kyle Martini led Hiram with seven kills each.

Game 1 - Wittenberg 3, Hiram 0

• Wittenberg jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the opening set capped by a kill from Teters, but Hiram stormed back with a 12-2 run to take a 17-15 edge.
• The Tigers answered right back, though, scoring the 10 of the next 11 points to win the set 25-18. Wittenberg got two kills from sophomore Moose Harper (Columbus, Ohio/Western Reserve Academy), one kill each from Supan and Halverson, two aces from Halverson and an ace from Diaz de Padilla in that stretch.
• Wittenberg dominated the second set, racing out to a 15-8 lead and then scoring seven straight points for a 22-8 edge en route to the 25-10 victory. The 7-0 run was highlighted by two kills from Supan and one each from Halverson and Teters.
• The third set was much tighter all the way through, featuring 10 tie scores. The last of those ties came at 19-all, and two straight kills from Halverson gave the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish en route to the 25-22 victory to clinch the sweep.
• Wittenberg finished with 37 kills and hit .389 in the match, while Hiram had 24 kills and hit .143.

Stat Leaders - vs. Wabash

• Sophomore Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) led the Tigers with 26 kills while hitting .321 and adding six digs and two aces.
• Sophomore Matthew Gerardi (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) hit .421 and tallied 10 kills, while Halverson added eight kills and five digs.
• Diaz de Padilla posted a season-high 49 assists.
• Sophomores Jake Downs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Milford) and Dominic Smith (Clayton, Ohio/Northmont) led the Tigers with 14 and 12 digs, respectively.
• Bawibawi Thang led Wabash with 22 kills while hitting .367.

Game 2 - Wabash 3, Wittenberg 2

• Wittenberg jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the opening set with the help of a 6-1 run after leading 7-4. That run included two aces and a kill from sophomore Greg Efaw (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson), and one kill each from Gerardi and sophomore Trajan Kress (Cincinati, Ohio/Sycamore).
• The Tigers extended their lead to 19-11, but Wabash answered with a four-run to cut the deficit to four, 19-15. Three straight points got the Tigers back on track en route to the 25-18 victory.
• A tightly contested second set saw the teams play to a 23-all tie before Wabash scored two straight points to tie the match at one set apiece.
• Wabash controlled the third set, getting out to a 21-13 edge en route to the 25-17 victory.
• Wittenberg answered by scoring five of the first six points of the fourth set and continued to lead until Wabash was able to tie the score at 24-all. The teams were also tied at 25, 26 and 27 before Wittenberg took the set with two straight points via a kill from Gerardi and a Wabash attack error.
• The decisive fifth set featured 11 tie scores, the last of which came at 15-all. Wabash scored the next two points, however, to win the match.
• Wittenberg finished with 62 kills and hit .262 for the match.
• Wabash finished with 60 kills and hit .285.

Quote - Head coach Nathan Matthews

• "We got to see everyone on our team make some exciting plays today. Playing in Columbus and getting an opportunity to showcase our program to a new audience was a very cool experience. We want to give a huge shout out to the women's volleyball team, our athletic trainer, Andy, our sports information team and the OVR for making today possible!"

Records & Milestones

• Wittenberg is now 7-3 all-time against Hiram and 4-3 all-time against Wabash.
• Third-year head coach Nathan Matthews is now 37-34 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Diaz de Padilla has 379 assists this season and ranks third in program history with 989 career assists. His 610 assists from last season rank seventh in program history for a single season.
• Yurk has 179 kills this season and ranks ninth in program history with 372 career kills. He is 25 kills shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 list for kills in a season.
• Supan has 328 career kills as he seeks to break into the program's all-time top 10 list in that category. His 227 career digs rank 10th in program history in that category.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Friday at Mount St. Joseph at 7 p.m.