Saint Xavier Men’s Volleyball notched their first win of the season after defeating NCAA Division III opponent, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Scarlet Hawks, in straight sets on Thursday,
February 11 at the Shannon Center.
The Cougars (1-7 overall) were led by regular contributors Sean Barry, Thomas Matonis, Noel Bragagnolo, and Dominic Villa in the contest. With their usual setter, Moises Lopez, inactive, Saint Xavier counted on junior outside hitter Dan O’Keefe to pick up his teammate. It was a total team effort in a victory that had several Cougars find their way onto the scorecard.
Amongst the crowd, it was Barry who stood out on offense with 12 kills to go along with his six digs. In total, Saint Xavier notched 37 kills and limited themselves to only 12 attacking errors on the evening. The spotlight shined on O’Keefe, who stepped away from his comfort zone as an outside hitter, and produced a strong showing at setter.
The junior had a game-high of 34 assists, two kills, five digs and two service aces in place of the absent Lopez. Matonis and Bragagnolo each made their presence known upfront on both offense and defense. Junior libero Dominic Villia played valiantly on the defensive end, registering a game-high nine digs.
It was a contest that allowed sophomore outside hitter Kevin Mayer to see some playing time, and he took advantage. Mayer ended the night with four kills, a service ace and three digs. Coaches Robert Heersema and Anne Kuziela can exhale after their team’s first victory on the year, and hope to keep the momentum going in the Cougars’ favor.
The first set of the contest was competitive throughout. However, Saint Xavier had command of the game from the get-go. The Cougars gained an early 10-7 lead with efforts from Bragagnolo, Berry and Matonis up front. The theme continued as the aforementioned threesome was relentless as the first set moved along.
IIT had no answer to Saint Xavier’s offense and did themselves no favors with several errors. By a score of 17-14 in favor of SXU, the next point would influence the tide of the first set. Assisted by O’Keefe, sophomore Kevin Mayer managed a huge kill for the Cougars, and put his team up 18-14.
Saint Xavier would not look back from there and eventually put the game away on a kill by Noel Bragagnolo. Despite a late comeback effort from the Scarlet Hawks, Saint Xavier won the first set 25-21. The second set was all Cougars. Sophomore middle blocker Bradley Gadek got an opportunity early and produced two of his five kills.
It was a very balanced and consistent offensive attack by Saint Xavier in the second set. One would call it poetry in motion, but it wouldn’t be the Scarlet Hawks of IIT that said it. With SXU leading 6-4 early, the Cougars put together an impressive stretch in which the boys rattled of 16 of the games next 21 points, giving them a substantial 17-8 advantage.
The offensive onslaught by the Cougars continued in the remainder of the set and completed the one-sided affair to the tune of a 25-12 score. Loaded with confidence after winning back-to-back sets for the first time all year, the Cougars were poised to close out the match in straight sets for their first victory in 2016.
The third set, much like the first, was competitive throughout, but Saint Xavier would never trail in the final frame. Consecutive kills by Gadek, Berry, and Gadek again put the Cougars out in front 9-5. Later, thanks to four straight attacking errors by Illinois Tech, Saint Xavier increased their lead to 13-6.
The final set may have been a little too sloppy for Coach Heersema, as SXU had their fair share of errors in the contest. However, the Cougars were able to overcome their mistakes as opposed to the visiting Scarlet Hawks and put together a solid showing toward the end of the set. At 14-10 and IIT poised to get back into the contest, Saint Xavier scored five of the following eight points and took some air out of the Scarlet Hawks’ sails.
Illinois Tech was persistent, however, and managed to cut the deficit to just two very late in the set. Unfortunately for IIT, it was Saint Xavier’s night at the Shannon Center. With the score being 23-21, the Cougars put an exclamation point on their first win, with the final two points coming on a kill from senior Greg Magrum and a block from Noel Bragagnolo.
Saint Xavier salvaged its first victory by winning the third set 25-21 and hope to build on it moving forward. The Cougars’ will get back into conference action with a matchup against Cardinal Stritch University on Tuesday, February 16 at the Shannon Center.
Mike Rankin
Sports Contributor
About Post Author
