Tigers Fend Off Fontbonne on Senior Day, 3-2

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio—The Wittenberg Tigers men's volleyball team defeated Fontebonne University in five sets Saturday afternoon. Prior to Saturdays match, the Tigers honored this season's lone senior, Matt Briskey (Dublin, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) in a Senior Day ceremony. Briskey's squad trailed in most of the early sets, but it was the team's resiliency that guided the team to the marathon victory. On the day, Briskey recorded seven kills and two digs, while freshman Dylan Kolovitz (Chicago, Illinois/St. Patrick) had a career night. The Chicago native slammed home 20 kills in the five-set victory, and recorded 21 total points on the night. The win moves the Tigers to a 14-8 mark overall in 2016, and a 4-6 mark in MCVL play.

MATCH BREAKDOWN

• Despite trailing 14-12 early, the Tigers managed to go out on a 7-1 run to regain the lead at 19-15, and eventually wining the first set 25-21.
• Again, the Tigers went down early in set two, 18-14 but managed to come roaring back to regain the lead, and then the set at 25-23.
• As history began to repeat itself one more time in Pam Evans Smith Arena, Wittenberg found themselves down 16-11 in the third set with the match on the line before tying things up at 21-21.
• This time the Griffins proved to be too much, claiming set three 27-25.
• Wittenberg did not lead at all in set four, as the Tigers fell 25-22 with the match deadlocked at 2-2.
• Resiliency proved to be the Tigers backbone in the fifth set, as Wittenberg handled business with the match on the line, winning set five 15-11.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Wittenberg's best set was their first set, as the team totaled 12 kills on a .296 hitting percentage.
• Despite Kolovitz and his 20 kill day, it was Ashton Sellers (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central) that finished with the team's best hitting percentage at .294, good enough for seven kills.
• Complimenting Kolovitz was Justin Luby (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) who slammed home 12 kills of his own in the win.

KEY STATS

• Kolovitz and Luby combined for 32 kills on the day, almost half of Wittenberg's total points in the match.
• Ross Russell (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) facilitated nicely all day for the Tigers, racking up 48 assists as well as digging 14 balls.

UP NEXT

• The Tigers travel down interstate 75 on March 24 to take on the Mount St. Joseph's Lions in an MCVL affair at 7:00PM.

Written By: Kuris Duggan