LANCASTER, Pennsylvania – The Mount St. Joseph men's volleyball team opened the Eric Santiago Garcia era with a trip to Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday. The Lions played a pair of matches on the day first against the host Eastern Mennonite and then Averett. The Lions dropped their first match in five sets to EMU before beating Averett in straight sets.
MATCH ONE | EMU 3 – MSJ 2
The Lions led early in set number one before a late EMU rally secured the first set. EMU would go on to take a 2-0 lead after a narrow 25-23 win in set number two. The Lions roared back to take sets three and four to tie the match, and send it to a fifth and decisive set. The fifth set was back-and-forth throughout with the Lions holding a 13-11 advantage late in the set, but EMU won the matches final three points to secure the win.
The Lions were led offensively by
Jude Lewis who had 17 kills in the match,
Ryan Bollhauer was the lone other player in double-figures with 10 kills. Ben Carmisino led the way with 31 assists and
Logan Essen led with 11 digs.
MATCH TWO | MSJ 3 – Averett 0
In match two the Lions were able to secure the first win in coach Santiago Garcia's career with a dominant straight sets win taking the match 25-8, 25-10, 25-9 .
Once again it was Lewis leading the way with nine kills,
JJ Rennekamp added 8 and Bollhauer 7. The Lions had 13 aces in the win, Lewis had six while Bollhauer and Carmosino each had 3.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will host a tri-match next Saturday in the Harrington Center, the other two schools competing will be Wisconsin Lutheran and Trine. The matches are scheduled to get underway at 1PM. First it will be MSJ vs. Wisconsin Lutheran, followed by Wisconsin Lutheran vs. Trine and finally MSJ vs. Trine will finish up the day!
