Men’s volleyball team splits two Friday matches at Judson Invitational

ELGIN, Ill. – The Olivet College men's volleyball team split two non-conference matches today at on day one of the Judson University Invitational at the Lindner Fitness Center. The Comets swept Lincoln (Ill.) College in three sets before losing to the host Eagles in four sets.

Final Score: Olivet def. Lincoln 25-21, 27-25, 25-18
Location: Lindner Fitness Center; Elgin, Illinois
Records: Olivet 2-5 overall, Lincoln 1-6 overall

• The Comets led 4-0 in the first set and never looked back. Late in the set, the Lynx closed the gap to a single point 21-20 before Olivet rattled off four of the final five points to win the set 25-21.
• In the second set, the Comets gained the largest lead for either team at 10-7. Lincoln answered with a 5-1 run to take a 12-11 lead. The teams traded points to create four tied scores at 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15. With the Lynx holding onto a narrow 16-15 advantage, Olivet went on a 4-0 run to go up 19-16. Lincoln responded with seven straight points for a 23-19 lead. The Comets fought back to level the score at 24-24. Olivet scored the next point before Lincoln evened the score at 25-25. Back-to-back Olivet kills ended the set in its favor.
• The third set saw the Lynx take an early 7-4 lead. Lincoln maintained the lead until the Comets were able to draw even at 16-16. Olivet used two big scoring runs (5-1 and 4-1) to win the set 25-18.

• For the match, the Comets posted a season-high .337 attack percentage, which ranks second all-time. They matched their season-high with 41 kills (13 errors) on 83 attempts. The 41 kills tie for first in school history for a three-set match.
• Freshman Ethan Valente slammed down a match-high 10 kills.
• Sophomores Kai Hartman and Deontay Thomas each tallied eight kills.
• Sophomore Everett Haynes dished out 25 set assists.
• Junior Dakota Galeazzi had a team-best seven digs.
• Freshman Nicholas Gonzales registered five total blocks (four solo and one assisted). The four solo blocks tie the single-match school record.

• Garrett Hooker and Jamere Jackson recorded eight kills apiece.
• Miguel Reyes and Jesus Dominguez split time at setter, collecting 13 and 11 assists, respectively.
• Maycor Carrion finished with a match-best eight digs.

Final Score: Judson def. Olivet 25-11, 25-13, 19-25, 25-19
Location: Lindner Fitness Center; Elgin, Illinois
Records: Olivet 2-6 overall, Judson 11-2 overall

• Down 4-2 in the first set, the Eagles went on an 8-2 run to go up 10-4. The Comets were not able to recover from the deficit, as Judson won the set by a 25-11 score.
• Olivet led 1-0 in the second set. Judson scored the next three points. The Comets closed the margin to a point twice but would not get any closer for the rest of the set.
• The third set saw Olivet lead it from start-to-finish.
• The start of the fourth set was back-and-forth. The Eagles took the largest lead for either team at 12-8. The Comets fought back to trim the Judson advantage down to a single point, 13-12. The Eagles put the next two points on the scoreboard, and their lead would stay at least two points for the rest of the set.

• Thomas shared match-high honors with 10 kills.
• Valente was next with six kills.
• Haynes recorded 18 of the 24 Olivet set assists.
• Galeazzi tallied 10 digs.

• Jamison Blasing had 10 of the 48 kills for Judson.
• Tom Kurzynski finished with eight kills.
• Elijah Wrobel collected 35 set assists and four assisted blocks.
• Noah McConville notched a match-high 13 digs.

• The Comets participate in day two of the Judson Tournament. Olivet plays Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University at 10:30 a.m. ET and Roosevelt (Ill.) University at 6 p.m. ET.