Men’s volleyball team has 1-1 record in season-opening matches at St. Norbert

DE PERE, Wis. – The Olivet College men's volleyball team opened the 2023 season by splitting two matches at St. Norbert's (Wis.) Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center. After winning three close sets against Wisconsin Lutheran College, the Comets lost in straight sets to the host Green Knights.

• Final Score: Olivet defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 25-19, 28-26, 25-23
• Location: Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center; De Pere, Wisconsin
• Records: Olivet 1-0 overall, Wisconsin Lutheran 2-2 overall

• The Warriors scored the first two points of the opening set. The Comets answered with six straight points to go up 6-2. Olivet did not give up the lead for the rest of the set.
• In the second set, the Comets built a seven-point cushion, 13-6. WLC used a 12-2 run to take a three-point lead, 18-15. The Warriors stretched their advantage of five points, 21-16, before getting to set point with a 24-21 lead. Three Olivet kills and a WLC attack error put the Comets ahead, 25-24. Two Warrior points gave them another set point. Sophomore Ethan Valente slammed down back-to-back kills, followed by one for junior Deontay Thomas to hand the set to Olivet.
• Down 4-2 in the third set, the Comets put together a 6-0 spurt to double up WLC, 8-4. The Warriors had a response in the form of a 5-0 run for a 9-8 lead. Three Olivet points made the score 11-9. The teams traded points until WLC seized a four-point advantage at 19-15. The Comets chipped away at their deficit. Still trailing 23-21, Olivet put the final four points on the scoreboard to win the set, 25-23.
• The Comets finished the match with one more kill than the Warriors, 34 to 33. The difference in the match was Olivet had eight less service errors.

• Olivet distributed its kills around evenly, as four players had at least six.
• Junior Kai Hartman led the way with nine kills.
• Sophomore Quinn Dickerson was next with eight.
• Thomas and Valente each had six kills.
• Junior Everett Haynes posted team-highs in set assists (26) and digs (12).
• Senior Dakota Galeazzi finished with 10 digs.

• Drew Wempner tallied 10 kills.
• Jay Thammavongsa and James Biedenbender dished out 17 and 11 set assists, respectively.
• Thammavongsa collected six digs.

• Final Score: St. Norbert defeated Olivet 25-15, 25-23, 25-21
• Location: Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center; De Pere, Wisconsin
• Records: Olivet 1-1 overall, St. Norbert 2-3 overall

• Down 8-4 in the first set, the Green Knights used an 8-0 run to go up 12-8. The Comets were never able to recover from that deficit.
• In the second set, St. Norbert went ahead 9-4. Olivet fought back and eventually took a 13-11 lead. The Green Knights responded by taking a four-point lead on three occasions. After the last time at 22-18, Olivet used a 5-1 run to even the score. St. Norbert scored the last two points to win the set.
• There were four lead changes and three tied scores early in the third set. With the score knotted at 10-10, the Green Knights scored three straight points to take the largest lead for either team. Olivet came back to level the score at 17-17. Three St. Norbert points made the score 20-17. The Comets closed the gap to a single point 20-19 but was not able to tie the set or take a lead.

• Hartman topped the team with nine kills.
• Thomas had seven kills and team-best 10 digs.
• Haynes dished out 21 set assists.

• Josh Hauke tallied a match-high 12 kills.
• Jake Bettag recorded 10 kills.
• Michael Whitney and Eddie Pacula split time at setter, finishing with 18 and 15 assists, respectively.
• Ryan Conway and Owen Knezevich each had nine digs.

• The Comets remain in Wisconsin tomorrow to play two matches Sunday afternoon at Lakeland (Wis.) University. First serve from match one is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET.