Men's Volleyball Falls In Four Against No. 1 Dominican

RIVER FOREST, Ill.—The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team put up a valiant effort tonight against No. 1 Dominican, however, the Stars were able to go on for the four-set win.

Final: No. 1 Dominican 3, Fontbonne 1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 25-21)

Location: River Forest, Ill.

Records: No. 1 Dominican 12-1, Fontbonne 12-4

Set Notes

Set 1: After back-and-forth action to start the Stars held a marginal 14-11 lead on Mat Molloy's kill. The Griffins got the deficit down to 20-18, however, the Stars were able to go on for the 25-19 opening set win.

Fontbonne had nine kills on 25 swings in the first set for a .040 hitting percentage. Ryan Lively led with four kills and a .500 hitting percentage.

Set 2: It couldn't have been a better start for Fontbonne in the second set with the Griffins taking a 12-2 lead on Braden Woolsey's kill. Dominican started to chip away at the deficit and eventually trailed 19-17 on consecutive George Kougan kills which forced the Griffins to take a timeout.

Out of the break, the Griffins regrouped getting a kill from Lively and never relinquished its lead going on for the 25-20 victory on a double block from Joseph Huster and Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell.

Fontbonne had a match-high 18 kills in the set led by Lively with seven kills and a .267 hitting percentage. Nate Paasch and Huster added three kills each.

Set 3: In the third, the Stars led 12-9 on a Fontbonne attack error and stretched its advantage to 17-11. Dominican kept its foot on the gas the rest of the way for the 25-17 win.

Fontbonne totaled 14 kills in the third, while Dominican had 11 kills and just one error on 23 swings for a match-high .435 hitting percentage.

Set 4: In the fourth, the two teams were all even at 12-12 on Cameron Graves' kill. The Stars took a 14-13 lead and started to pull away with a 21-17 advantage. Fontbonne kept battling making it a 23-21 game on a Stars attack error, but a service error followed by a kill from Trey Cowan secured the 25-21 match win.

Team Comparison

• Fontbonne ended with a season-high 54 kills, to go along with its .209 hitting percentage.
• Dominican totaled 47 kills and a .304 hitting percentage.
• The Stars held a marginal 50-46 dig advantage.
• Dominican had 16 block assists, while Fontbonne had 10.

Top Griffins

• Ryan Lively finished with a season-high 20 kills and .279 hitting percentage.
• Nate Paasch had a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs.
• Braden Woolsey had eight kills and four block assists.
• Joseph Huster and Cameron Graves contributed seven kills.
• Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell ended with 45 assists and 10 digs. He's up to 1,024 career digs needing just nine more from moving into 12^th place all-time in Division III history.

Up Next

The Griffins look to bounce back tomorrow when they'll face the NCAA Division III Reigning Tournament Champion and No. 3 ranked Carthage. First-service at 7 p.m.

About Fontbonne University

Fontbonne University is a private, Catholic liberal arts university located in St. Louis, committed to a transformative education and inspiring students to become global citizens who think critically, act ethically and serve responsibly. The university, founded in 1923, is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. For more information, visit www.fontbonne.edu

Make sure to follow the men's volleyball team on all its social media accounts: Twitter(@FBUGriffinsMVB), Instagram (@fontbonnemvb) and Facebook (/FontbonneUGriffins).