[Men's Volleyball] Men's Volleyball Falls Short in Crucial match vs. Warner

LAURINBURG, N.C. - The St. Andrews University men's volleyball team fell short in their upset bid against conference rival Warner University (FL)in four sets (25-27, 25-22, 27-29, 17-25) at home Friday evening.

WARNER 3, SAU 1

The teams played a very close first set with the Knights getting out to a 21-15 lead forcing Warner into a timeout. However, Warner came storming back to take the set 27-25 as SAU out-killed the Royals 9-5 but both teams came out over-amped and made a combined 21 attack errors.

SAU then rallied midway through the second set to go on and take it 25-22 on 12 kills hitting .207 as they got back to their style of play to even the match.

A close third set then saw the Knights claw back to take a one point lead at 24-23 after trialing the entire set. SAU thought they had the set in hand but, unfortunately, Warner came out on top for the heartbreaking 29-27 win changing the momentum of the entire match. Warner then controlled game four to close out the match in 4 as St. Andrews totaled more kills than Warner 11-9 in the final set.

SAU ended up with more kills than the Royals in the match recording 42 while Warner managed just 34. However, SAU missed their opportunity for the upset win by making 41 attack errors and 20 service errors.

Senior OH Robin Imar (SR/St. Medard, France) led the Knights by recording a season-high 20 kills on 46 attacks to hit .152 along with 8 digs, 2 blocks, and an ace.

Freshman outside hitter Diego Hernandez (FR/San Juan, Puerto Rico) then paced the Knights with 12 kills along with five digs, three aces, and a block. Freshman Daryn Friedman (FR/Pembroke Pines, FL) also added two aces, a dig, and an assist on the night.

Sophomore Setter Jackson Stark (SO/St. Louis, MO) led SAU with 39 assists, 5 digs, 3 blocks, and a kill while sophomore Libero Jacob DeSouza (SO/Quail Valley, CA) added a team-high ten digs on the night.

Sophomore middle blocker Nate Blackwell (SO/Menifee, CA) registered 4 kills with 2 total blocks while fellow middle, freshman Jorge Gonzalez (FR/Miami, FL) added 2 kills, 2 digs, and 2 blocks. Senior middle Sean Hale (SR/Angels Camp, CA) also added two kills and a team-high 4 blocks.

SAU falls to 14-6 and 8-2 in the conference with the loss while Warner improves to 15-2 overall and 11-1.

St. Andrews will remain home to host a conference quad-meet next Saturday, March 31 beginning at 11:00 AM with a neutral match while the Knights will get started at 1 PM hosting Cincinnati Christian. SAU will also host conference foes Webber International (FL) at 5 PM and Bluefield (Va.) at 7 PM.