[Men's Volleyball] Knights' Volleyball Sweeps Quad Meet

LAURINBURG, N.C. - The St. Andrews University men's volleyball team finished out their regular season by going 3-0 in their conference quad meet on a long Saturday on Senior day in Laurinburg. SAU beat each of their conference foes, Cincinnati Christian University (Oh.), sister school Webber International University (Fla.), and Bluefield College (Va.) in four sets.

SAU improves to 17-6 on the season as they continue to set the program record for wins. SAU also saw the first triple-double in program history as Senior Robin Imar (SR/St. Medard, France) scored double-digit kills, aces, and digs in the win over Webber later Saturday.

SAU 3, CCU 1

The Knights got off to a good start against the Eagles in the first set on Saturday afternoon leading 10-4, but could not hold off CCU in falling 25-23. SAU out-killed CCU in the set as well 13-9.

SAU then controlled the second set en route to a 25-21 win behind 13 kills while hitting .310. The Knights then dominated the third set 25-17 on 13 kills again this time hitting .455 while holding the Eagles to just 8 kills in the frame.

The 4th set then went down to the wire with each team attacking very well. The two schools combined for 30 kills and just 2 errors in the set. SAU ended up closing it out 25-23 on freshman outside Hitter Diego Hernandez (FR/San Juan, Puerto Rico)'s kill, one of his team and career-high 22 in the match. Hernandez made only 4 errors throughout the match and zero after the first set. He also added 11 digs for a double-double along with 2 aces and 2 blocks.

SAU ended up with more kills in the match than the Eagles, 55-41, while hitting an impressive .349 as a team with CCU hitting .238.

Imar then added 16 kills and 9 digs while hitting .297 with two blocks and an ace. Sophomore Setter Jackson Stark (SO/St. Louis, MO) led SAU with 50 assists, 7 digs, 2 kills, and an ace while sophomore Libero Jacob DeSouza (SO/Quail Valley, CA) added 6 digs, three aces, and an assist.

Sophomore middle blocker Nate Blackwell (SO/Menifee, CA) registered 8 kills with 3 blocks and 2 digs while hitting .429 as sophomore OH Edgar Huerta (SO/Salinas, CA) added 7 kills with 3 digs and an ace.

SAU 3, WEBBER 1

SAU got off to a terrific start in the first set as Robin Imar served five consecutive aces to help get the Knights out to a 7-1 start. Webber would rally, however, pushing the set to extra points but SAU would clinch the set and hang on 26-24 as each team recorded 11 kills.

Webber then hit well in the second game making 13 kills to hit .360 while SAU still managed 12 kills, but had 7 errors and fell 21-25 to the Warriors. The Knights then came out on fire in the third set opening up a massive 13-2 lead and extending that to 18-4 as they crushed Webber 25-9 to take the match lead 2-1. SAU hit .563 on 11 kills in the set while Webber only had 7 kills.

A competitive fourth set then saw Webber lead the whole way as the Knights would tie it numerous times but could never take the lead until 23-22. SAU would hang on for the match win 25-23 on a season-high 19 kills in the set hitting .278. SAU totaled 53 kills in the match hitting .267.

Imar led the way with his first-ever triple double of 13 kills, 10 digs, and 10 aces to set an SAU record. He also added two solo blocks while Hernandez led the way overall with 15 kills on just 5 errors as he hit .357 with 8 digs and 3 blocks.

Huerta also played a stellar game registering 12 kills on just one error to hit .500 with 5 digs and two blocks as well. Senior middle Sean Hale (SR/Angels Camp, CA) also played very well with 5 kills and 0 errors to hit .833 with 3 blocks while fellow middle, sophomore Nate Blackwell then added 7 kills with 3 digs and 3 blocks.

Stark also led the way with 48 assists, 3 digs, a block and a kill while DeSouza had 8 digs and freshman Daryn Friedman (FR/Pembroke Pines, FL) had 2 aces.

SAU 3, BLUEFIELD 1

SAU improves to 17-6 overall and 10-2 in the conference with the wins. #5 seed Webber goes to 6-13 overall and 5-7 in conference with the split as they also beat Bluefield. #6 seed Bluefield falls to 7-17 overall and 4-8 in the conference. #3 seed CCU goes to 11-14 overall and 6-6 in conference as they also split on the day topping Bluefield.

St. Andrews has now finished their regular season and will next head to Campbellsville University (Ky.) on Friday for the Conference Tournament as the #2 seed. SAU is scheduled to begin their semifinal match on Friday at 3:00 PM vs. a TBA opponent.