Men’s volleyball team splits Sunday doubleheader at Lakeland

PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The Olivet College men's volleyball team split a doubleheader at Lakeland (Wis.) University on a Sunday afternoon inside the Woltzen Gymnasium. In the first match, the Comets were swept by the Muskies in three sets. Olivet bounced back to win a five-set thriller in the second match.

• Final Scores: Lakeland defeated Olivet 25-22, 25-23, 25-22; Olivet defeated Lakeland 19-25, 25-18, 25-14, 18-25, 15-10
• Location: Woltzen Gymnasium; Plymouth, Wisconsin
• Records: Olivet 2-2 overall, Lakeland 3-4 overall

• The first set was back-and-forth, as neither team led by more than two points until the Muskies gained a 16-13 lead. The Comets closed the gap to a single point twice, 19-18 and 20-19, before Lakeland went ahead by four, 24-20. Olivet fought off two set points, but a service error gave the set to the Muskies.
• The second set was like the first, as Lakeland did not have a sizeable lead until it went ahead 17-13. Olivet answered with a 7-2 run to take a 20-19 lead. The teams traded points to create four tied scores at 20-20, 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23. A Muskie kill and ace closed out the set in their favor.
• Lakeland scored the first point of the third set and maintained its advantage until the Comets leveled the score at 17-17. The Muskies then scored three straight points for a 20-17 lead. Olivet answered with a 4-0 run to take the lead back 21-20. With another 3-0 spurt, Lakeland re-gained the advantage, 23-21. The Muskies scored two of the final three points of the set to win the match.

• Junior Deontay Thomas led all players with 12 kills, while hitting at a team-best .310 clip.
• Sophomore Quinn Dickerson finished with 10 kills.
• Dickerson and Thomas each served three aces.
• Junior Everett Haynes recorded team-highs in set assists (22) and digs (six).

• Ben Busalacchi topped Lakeland with nine kills and 10 digs.
• Colin Kenney was next with eight kills. He and Drew Green collected seven digs apiece.
• Chase Anderson dished out 15 set assists, while Martin Carrillo had 12.

• Despite three tied scores, Lakeland never trailed in the first set.
• With the score knotted at 2-2 in the second set, Olivet reeled off four straight points. The Muskies came back to level the score at 7-7 before the Comets scored the next three points to go up 10-7. Olivet did not surrender the lead for the remainder of the set, winning it by a 25-18 score.
• The Comets surged ahead 10-5 to start the third set. Lakeland cut its deficit down to three points twice. After the second time at 14-11, Olivet went on a 6-0 run to take control of the set.
• In the fourth set, neither team was able to gain a lead of more than two points until the Muskies went ahead 17-13 and made the Comets call a timeout. Olivet could not bounce back from the deficit and lost the set 25-18 to force a deciding set.
• The Comets started the fifth set by scoring the first four points. Lakeland came back with a 6-1 run to take its first lead, 6-5. After an Olivet timeout, the Muskies scored the next point. A service error followed by a Comet kill and ace made the score 9-7. Following a Lakeland timeout, Olivet scored a point on an attack error. The Comets kept the lead for the rest of the set.

• As a team, Olivet served 11 aces, which is the most in school history in a five-set match and ties for third-most regardless of sets played.
• For the match, Dickerson totaled 10 kills and four blocks (one solo and three assisted).
• Junior Kai Hartman and sophomore Ethan Valente were next with nine kills apiece.
• Hartman finished with a team-best 10 digs.
• Haynes contributed 27 set assists.

• Hunter Henson slammed down a match-best 16 kills, followed by Busalacchi with 11.
• Busalacchi led all players with 12 digs.
• Anderson recorded 31 set assists.

• Olivet travels to Adrian to play Siena Heights University Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.