Men’s volleyball team tripped by Wittenberg in three sets

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Playing its first match in nearly a month, the Olivet College men's volleyball team dropped a three-set match to Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) rival Wittenberg (Ohio) University tonight inside Pam Evans Smith Arena.

Final Score: Wittenberg def. Olivet 23-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-11
Location: Pam Evans Smith Arena; Springfield, Ohio
Records: Olivet 4-10 overall, 0-3 MCVL; Wittenberg 11-12 overall, 4-2 MCVL

• The Comets built a 9-3 lead in the first set. The Tigers chipped away at their deficit and closed the gap to a single point, 11-10. Olivet scored four of the next five points to go up 15-11. Wittenberg answered with a 5-1 run to level the score. Following another tie at 17-17, three straight Comet points put them ahead 20-17. The Tigers fought back to trail by one point three times at 22-21, 23-22 and 24-23. Following a timeout, freshman Ethan Valente slammed down a kill for the set point.
• After an Olivet ace to open the second set, three consecutive points for the Tigers made the score 3-1. Wittenberg maintained the lead until the Comets drew even on three occasions. After the last time at 10-10, the Tigers used a 3-1 run to go up 13-11. Olivet answered with a 3-0 spurt to go ahead 14-13. The teams traded points to create four more tied scores. With the score knotted at 17-17, Wittenberg ended scored eight of the final 10 points of the set to win it 25-19.
• The Tigers started the third set on a 6-0 run and still led by a 12-7 score. A 6-0 run put the Comets ahead for the first time, 13-12. The teams exchanged 2-0 spurts to make the score 15-14. Three straight points helped Wittenberg take a 17-15 lead. Olivet fought back to take a 20-19 lead. Another 3-0 Tiger run before two Comet points evened the score at 22-22. Wittenberg tallied the final three points for a 25-22 win in set three.
• The only time the Tigers trailed in the fourth set was 1-0.

• Valente recorded nine of the 33 Olivet kills.
• Sophomore Kai Hartman was next with eight kills.
• Sophomore Everett Haynes dished out a team-best 26 set assists.
• Sophomore Deontay Thomas collected 19 digs.
• Junior Dakota Galeazzi also reached double digits in digs with 10.

• Dominic Melchiorre registered a match-high 19 kills.
• Chris Goertz and Jack Boone finished with 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
• Aaron Giorgi tallied a match-high 48 set assists.
• Russ Burke collected 22 digs.

• Olivet makes the 90-minute trip southwest to play another MCVL match tomorrow against Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) University at the Harrington Center. First serve is at 1 p.m.