On Thursday, February 25, the Saint Xavier men’s volleyball team would battle Benedictine University of Lisle. The Cougars’ season-long struggles would continue against Benedictine despite being close with their opponents in every set.
At the beginning of the first set, each team would trade three points en route to a 3-3 tie, giving the people in attendance and the athletes participating in the game the early impression that this game was going to be a close one.
However, Benedictine would go on the first run of the game, scoring five of the next six points to give themselves an 8-4 lead. The Cougars would attempt to come back from this, but every time the Cougars would score a point, Benedictine would score two.
This trend would last until the Cougars would go on their own run, scoring three straight points to cut their deficit to 14-10. But once again, the Cougars would get caught in the back and forth contest that the game was in its early setting, which would end up being a bad thing as the Cougars would not be able to make up ground on their opponents and would eventually lose the first set by the score of 25-19.
Down 1-0 in the game, the second set would be pivotal in determining just how long this game would last. Like the first set, Saint Xavier and Benedictine would trade points with each other at the start of the second set until the set was tied at 7. From there though, Benedictine would go on a 9-4 run to take a 16-11 lead.
The Cougars would show their resiliency at this point going on a 4-2 run to cut their deficit to 18-15. But a complete comeback was not in the cards, as Benedictine would score seven of the next ten points to secure the set by the score of 25-18 and take a commanding 2-0 game lead.
Faced with the unenviable task of having to win three straight sets in order to win the game, the Cougars would not start the third set well, finding themselves down by the score of 6-4. The Cougars would come storming back though, going on a 6-2 run to take the lead at 10-8.
Benedictine would also show some fight though as they would score the next two points to tie up the set at 10. From there, neither team could separate themselves from the other. Whenever a team would score a point, the other team would score a point.
Whenever a team would score consecutive points, the other team would score consecutive points. This battle of will would last all the way until the score was tied at 20.
With the game on the line and with their backs against the wall, the Cougars would go on a defiant 5-1 run to win the third set by the score of 25-21 and force the game to go into a fourth set.
Once again, the fourth set would start with the heated back and forth play that the fans and players were accustomed to throughout the first three sets of the game. With the score tied at 7, Saint Xavier would go on the first run of the game by scoring five of the next seven points to take a 12-9 lead.
However, this lead would be very short lived as Benedictine would go on a 7-1 run to take their first lead of the game at 16-13. The Cougars would try to fight back though, inching their way closer and closer to their opponents until the score was 21-20 in favor of Benedictine.
With the game so close and with victory within striking distance, the fans were loud in their support for the Cougars, pulling for them to complete the comeback and to extend this game to a winner-take-all fifth set.
Unfortunately for them and the players, it was not meant to be as Benedictine would score the final four points of the set, winning it 25-20, and winning the game 3-1. With the loss, the Cougars record falls to 3-9 with a conference record of 1-4.
The Cougars will look to get a win in their next game on Tuesday, March 1 on the road against Calumet College of St. Joseph.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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