[Men's Volleyball] Men's Volleyball goes 1-2 at Campbellsville Tourney

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The St. Andrews University Men's Volleyball team won their first conference match of the season on the road Friday evening ousting NAIA foe Campbellsville University in three sets (25-22, 25-18, 25-20). The Knights also played non-conference NAIA matches vs. Lourdes University (OH) and Robert Morris University (IL) dropping both matches.

SAU 3, CU 0

St. Andrews played a good first set recording 15 kills while hitting a strong .440 to pick up the close three point set 25-22 while CU also registered 13 kills. The Knights then ran away with the second set late in the game going on a 6-1 run to close it out 25-18 behind 13 kills and hitting .400 again while CU made 6 errors.

SAU then dominated the third set getting out to a 10-2 lead before stretching it to 21-11. CU then made a 9-2 as SAU had their reserves in the game but the Knights easily closed it out for the third set win improving to 1-0 in the conference while CU falls to 5-6 overall and 1-1 in the league.

SAU totaled 38 kills on 72 attacks to hit .319 while adding 34 assists, 13 digs and 11 service aces including a season-high of six aces from senior OH Robin Imar (SR/St. Medard, France). Imar also added 7 kills with two digs and a block.

Freshman OH Diego Hernandez (FR/San Juan, Puerto Rico) then led the Knights with 11 kills on 20 attacks and one error to hit .500 while adding 4 digs and an ace. Sophomore middle blockers Nate Blackwell (SO/Menifee, CA) and Edgar Huerta (SO/Salinas, CA) also added 7 kills apiece with just 3 errors while Blackwell added a block and hit .500. Huerta hit a team-best .667.

Freshman right side Daryn Friedman (FR/Pembroke Pines, FL) also added 3 kills, 3 aces, and an assist, while sophomore setter Jackson Stark (SO/St. Louis, MO) had 31 assists, with 2 digs and a kill. Sophomore libero Jacob DeSouza (SO/Quail Valley, CA) also added four digs and two assists.

#9 LOURDES 3, SAU 2

9th ranked Lourdes (9-4) got off to a good start in controlling the first set from the Knights 25-14 behind 13 kills and hitting .267 while SAU had 7 kills but 8 errors. SAU then came back to steal the next two sets from the Gray Wolves by identical scores of 25-22 on 30 kills and just 12 errors including a high of 17 kills in game three where SAU hit .289.

SAU was looking for the program's first ranked win until Lourdes came roaring back cruising through the fourth set 25-14 to force a decisive fifth game. Lourdes only had 9 kills in game 4 but forced 10 Knight attack errors. Lourdes also controlled the fifth set from the start rolling to the 15-6 win on six kills with 7 SAU attack errors.

Imar led the Knights with 15 kills as he hit .205 with 3 digs, an ace, a block, and an assist while Hernandez added 13 kills and 13 digs for his first double-double of the season. Hernandez also had three aces for the team–high along with two blocks.

The power-hitting duo now leads SAU with 64 kills each on the season while Imar has 10aces and 34 digs.

Blackwell also added 8 kills in the match with 3 blocks while Huerta had five kills. Friedman posted six kills with 8 digs, an assist and a solo block while Stark had 42 assists, 7 digs, and a kill. DeSouza also added 9 digs and an assist as the libero. 

RMU 3, SAU 0

RMU (8-5) got off to a quick start in game one on Saturday morning rolling past the exhausted Knights 25-17 on 10 kills while SAU had nine kills but 7 errors. A tight second set then saw the Eagles squeak past the Knights 25-22 on 16 kills while SAU totaled 14 kills to hit .273.

RMU then closed out the Knights, barely, 25-23 on 14 kills and just 3 errors to hit .393 while the Knights had 14 kills again to hit .242. SAU finished with 37 kills for the match to hit .209 while RMU hit .377 with 40 kills.

SAU was led by Imar's 14 kills as he hit a team-best .524 along with 5 digs and two aces while Hernandez added 12 kills and only 3 errors to hit .333 with three digs and an ace.

Huerta then posted six kills with two digs and a solo block while Friedman added four kills, an ace, an assist, and six digs. Stark then led the Knights with 34 assists while DeSouza added a team-high 7 digs with an assist as well.

St. Andrews, now 2-4, will remain on the road to face AAC foe Bluefield College (Va.) on Tuesday at 7 PM in the rescheduled date from their earlier postponement.