Hiram, Ohio – The Wittenberg University men's volleyball team returned to the court on Saturday afternoon, facing off against the Terriers of Hiram College and the Bulldogs of Brooklyn College in a Tri-Match from Price Gymnasium. The Tigers continued AMCC action, taking on the Terriers in their first match of the day. Wittenberg took down Hiram 3-2(25-13, 22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 16-14) on their way to their first win of the afternoon. The Tigers moved on to make quick work of the Bulldogs from Brooklyn College, taking the match 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-10). Picking up two wins on the day, Wittenberg moves to 7-5 on the season and 1-1 in AMCC action.
Match One Breakdown
The Tigers took the early lead over the Terriers with a dominant 25-13 first set win. Wittenberg opened the match hitting .333 with nine kills on 18 total attack attempts. Ross Russell started the game off strong with two attacks in a row keeping the Terriers 4-2. To keep the Terriers from scoring, Isaiah Brock and Ashton Sellers came through with back-to-back blocks for the Red and White. Russell added to the Wittenberg lead, extending the Tiger advantage out to 23-11. The Tigers fell 22-25 in a hard-fought second set. The set started off close until the Terriers broke the early 4-4 tie. The Tigers struggled with several attack errors through the early going, allowing Hiram to extend their lead to 13-5. After a timeout was called by Wittenberg, the Tigers came back strong with a kill by Gabriel Lamar, cutting the Terrier lead to 15-8. Several attack errors by the Terriers and strong blocks from Blake Sobieralski and Brock brought the Tigers closer to the Hiram lead at 21-19. Ultimately the Terriers came through ending the match 25-22. The third and fourth set went back and forth with the Tigers winning the third set 25-23 and the Terriers winning the fourth 25-23. But the Tigers came through to win the fifth and final set 16-14. The Tigers and the Terriers went back to back throughout the set with Witt taking the score from 4-2 to 6-4 while the Terriers fought back, bringing the score from 9-7 to 11-9. The Tigers benefited from the Terriers attack errors allowing them to win the set 16-14 and winning the match 3-2.
Match Two Breakdown
The Wittenberg Tigers ended their weekend with a 3-0 game win against the Brooklyn Bulldogs. 25-16, and 25-10. Russell had a serving streak of four at the begging of the first set keeping the Bulldogs down 5-1, ultimately winning the first set 25-20. The second set the Tigers held the Bulldogs down to 16 points winning the match 25-16. The Tigers third and final set was won 25-10 allowing the Tigers to shut out the Bulldogs 3-0 overall.
Who Stood Out
Brock and Sellers tied for kills with 12 in the first game. Buelow also helped the Tigers take the win with 9 kills. Russell with 8 digs and Russell Burke with 5 digs also contributed to the Tigers 3-2 win over the Terriers. Russell's aggressive attacks along with Noah Wissel added to the team's offensive charge, picking up two wins on the afternoon.
UP NEXT
Wittenberg will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 12 when they travel to Mount Union for a 7:00 PM contest with the Raiders.