SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg men's volleyball team fell 3-1 in a tight battle against No. 17 Benedictine (Ill.) on Friday night. Benedictine won 25-21, 17-25, 25-17, 25-23.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (1-5 overall), #17 Benedictine (3-1 overall)
• Venue: Pam Evans Smith Arena - Springfield, Ohio

Stat Leaders

• Sophomore Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) and senior Tom Supan (Medina, Ohio/Medina) led the Tigers with 16 kills each. Supan posted a .379 hitting percentage, while Yurk hit .297. Supan added a team-best 10 digs, and Yurk led the Tigers with four service aces.
• Senior Andrew Diaz de Padilla (Nipmo, Calif./Central Coast New Tech) tallied a team-high 22 assists, and sophomore Sam Richardson (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) added 19 assists.
• Tucker Lambert led the Eagles with 12 kills.
• Wittenberg hit .268 in the game, while Benedictine hit .246.

The Game

• The teams played to a 13-all tie in the first set before the Eagles built a 23-17 edge en route to the 25-21 victory.
• The Tigers responded by building a 22-13 lead in the second set and closing out the 25-17 win to tie the match at a set apiece.
• The teams played to a 9-all tie in the third set, but Benedictine scored the next four points and led the rest of the way en route to the 25-17 win.
• Wittenberg jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the fourth set, getting three kills from Supan, two from Yurk and one from sophomore Moose Harper (Columbus, Ohio/Western Reserve Academy) in that stretch.
• The Tigers continued to lead at 19-14 later in the set, but the Eagles responded with a 6-1 run to tie the score at 20-all.
• Wittenberg answered to take a 23-21 lead, but Benedictine re-tied the score at 23-all to force a WU timeout.
• The Eagles closed out the set with a kill and an ace to win the match.

Quote - Head coach Nathan Matthews

• "I'm super proud of how our guys played tonight. We've battled a lot of adversity here at the beginning of the season, and we're super pumped to get back at it. We've had a lot of time to work on some things and talk about how we want to compete, and I felt like we did that tonight. We were winning almost every statistical category throughout the match, and this was probably one of the highest, if not the highest, level matches we've played since I've been here in terms of the quality of volleyball, so it's hard to be upset about that. This bodes well for us going forward."

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Saturday hosting a doubleheader against Eastern Mennonite (Va.) at 12 p.m. and Penn State-Behrend at 4 p.m.