Men’s volleyball team rallies to beat Greenville in home-opener

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College men's volleyball team rallied from down two sets to beat Greenville (Ill.) University in a thrilling five-set match tonight in its home-opener at The Cutler Event Center in Olivet. The Comets lost the first two sets, 25-22 and 26-24, before winning the next two sets by identical 25-18 scores. Olivet then won an epic fifth set, 22-20.

THE BASICS
Final Score: Olivet def. Greenville 22-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-18, 22-20
Location: The Cutler Event Center; Olivet, Mich.
Records: Olivet 3-0 overall, Greenville 2-1 overall

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Comets held a three-point lead on three occasions in the first set, with the last time being 15-12. Olivet held the lead until the Panthers went ahead 19-18. The Comets scored two points to go back on top, 20-19. Greenville answered with a 3-0 run and did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the set.
• Neither team led by more than three points in the second set. With the score knotted at 22-22, the Panthers scored two consecutive points for a 24-22 lead. Olivet fought off two set points before Greenville used two Comet attack errors for the winning points.
• The Panthers led 11-10 in the third set. The Comets put five of the next six points on the scoreboard to take a 15-12 lead. Greenville fought back to trail by one point, 16-15. Olivet went on a 6-0 run for a 21-15 advantage and did not give it up for the remainder of the set.
• The Comets led the fourth set from start-to-finish to force a deciding set.
• In the fifth set, Olivet led by three points on two occasions, 10-7 and 11-8. Leading 14-12, the Comets served for the match point but the Panthers fought it off with three straight points to gain their own match point at 15-14. Greenville was ahead by a point five more times (16-15, 17-16, 18-17, 19-18 and 20-19) but each time Olivet scored the next point to level the score.
• The Comets tied the score on a service error. Sophomores Logan Blough and Brock Pringle combined for a double block to put Olivet ahead 21-20. Freshman Karl Deichmann slammed down a kill for the winning point, 22-20.

FOR THE COMETS

• After hitting .017 in the first two sets, Olivet improved to .352 over the final three sets. For the match, the Comets had 61 kills, with 29 errors on 148 attacks for a .216 hitting percentage.
• Four Olivet players reached double figures in kills.
• Deichmann led the way with 17 kills.
• Brock Pringle and sophomore Trent Robinson each had 13 kills.
• Senior Rhett Pringle finished with 11 kills.
• Robinson hit at a team-best .476 clip and recorded a match-high nine blocks (one solo and eight assisted).
• Sophomore Aaron Giorgi recorded a match-high 53 set assists.
• Freshman libero Tanner Gardenour posted a team-leading 10 digs.

FOR THE PANTHERS

• Greenville finished the match with 54 kills and a .145 attack percentage.
• Marc Gonzalez led all players with 20 kills.
• Isaiah Canales and George Black each had eight kills.
• Tanner Smith dished out 45 assists.
• Logan Dameris registered a match-high 13 digs.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• In the match, Olivet broke the team single-match record for kills (61) and set assists (58), and tied the single-match record for attack attempts (148).
• Giorgi broke the individual single-match record with his 53 set assists.
• Robinson's eight assisted blocks set a single-match record, while his nine total blocks ties the single-match match benchmark.

UP NEXT

• Olivet faces Fontbonne (Mo.) University tomorrow after inside The Cutler Event Center, starting at 2 p.m. The Griffins won in three sets tonight at Adrian College.

Watch the final two points from tonight's match: