On Tuesday, March 24, the Saint Xavier volleyball team battled Trinity International University in the Shannon Center.
The Cougars swept the Trojans in a game that saw senior middle blocker, Sam Kull, break two school records to help the Cougars secure the win.
St. Xavier came out blazing at the start of the first set, scoring the first eight points of the game to take an 8-0 lead.
After some back and forth action that saw the Cougars’ lead dwindle to 10-3, the Cougars picked up the pace again and scored four straight points to push their lead to 14-3.
Trinity answered back though, scoring three straight points to cut their deficit to 14-6. After this mini-run by the Trojans, the Cougars’ offense struck as they got kills and aces galore which sparked an 11-3 run to seal the first set 25-9 and take a 1-0 game lead.
The second set began with both teams trading two points with each other, resulting in a 2-2 tie early in the set. This was as close as the set would get in terms of the score, as the Cougars had an offensive barrage similar to the one that end the first set.
This barrage resulted in a 19-3 run that busted this set open to the tune of a 21-5 lead for the home team. Trinity fought back after this extended run, scoring seven of the next 10 points to cut the Cougar lead to 24-12.
But just when it seemed like they could keep this run going, the Trojans committed a serve error, giving the Cougars a point and a subsequent 25-12 set win. The win gave St. Xavier a pivotal 2-0 game lead on their opponents.
The third set began with Trinity jumping out to an early 4-2 lead. The Cougars responded, scoring six straight points to take the lead at 8-4. The Trojans and the Cougars battled from this point, trading points with one another for an extended period of time.
You could feel the Cougars getting frustrated during this sequence as they so badly wanted to put this set away and avoid a fourth set, but only saw their lead diminish to 14-12. The Cougars overcame this frustration for a little bit, going on a 5-1 run to gain a comfortable 19-13 lead.
Trinity proved to be relentless, not giving into the Cougars attempts to put them away. They went on a 6-2 run to close the gap to 21-19, prompting St. Xavier to use a timeout to calm down their players.
The timeout proved to be a successful one as the Cougars came out of it calmed and recollected. This showed as the Cougars would score four of the last five points to put away their opposition 25-20 and win the game 3-0.
Kull had a monumental game, recording six kills, four block assists, and a game high of 10 aces. The 10 aces broke a school record for most aces in a single game. The previous record was held by Kull himself, who had nine in a game last season.
Kull would also finish the day with 18 points. Those 18 points made him the St. Xavier career leader in points with 1,020.
But Kull was not the only Cougar that had a good game. Setter Justin Parra led the Cougars with 25 assists. Libero Dominic Villa recorded seven digs. Outside hitter Sean Barry had six kills in this game.
With the win, the Cougars record stands at 11-14 with a conference record of 8-6. This game was the last game of the regular season and it also proved to be a crucial game as the Cougars got the #4 seed in the NAIA Great Lakes Conference Tournament thanks to the win.
The Cougars now looked to win their conference tournament to qualify for the national tournament. The first obstacle in their path to the national tournament took place on Friday against Siena Heights.
On Friday, March 27, the Cougars opened up their conference tournament against the #5 seed in the tournament, Siena Heights University. The game was an instant classic as the Cougars would need to go the distance in order to move onto the next round.
The first set did not start out well for the Cougars as Siena Heights jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. The Cougars responded by scoring four of the next six points to cut the Saints’ lead to 7-6.
After training points with one another and the score being 9-8, Siena Heights extended their lead, by scoring four straight points, to 13-8. Not to be outdone, the Cougars answered back with a 5-1 run to once again close the gap to 14-13.
From there, these two teams would engage in an intense exchange, trading points with each other until the score was 19-17. At that point, Siena Heights saw an opportunity to take the first set, and did just that by going on a 6-2 run to close out the Cougars’ comeback bid, win the first set 25-19, and take a 1-0 game lead.
The second set played out like the first. The Saints came out hot, taking seven of the first 10 points scored to take a 7-3 lead. But the Cougars cameback, scoring four out of the next six points to cut the Saints’ lead to 9-7.
Just when it seemed like St. Xavier was getting back into the set, Siena Heights would halt the Cougars by going on a 6-2 run to extend their lead to 15-9.
The Cougars’ resiliency, which would be a key factor later in the game, shined through again, going on a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to 16-15. But once again the Saints tried to play spoiler, going on a 7-2 run to push their lead to 23-17 which forced the Cougars to use a timeout.
After the timeout, the Cougars played inspired, going on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 23. An attack error by the Cougars on the next play after getting it tied up resulted in a set point situation for their opposition.
Down 24-23, the Cougars get help from Siena Heights as a serve error resulted in St. Xavier tying the game at 24-24. But once again, the Cougars found themselves down with the game on the line after a kill by Siena Heights gave them a 25-24 lead.
Again, the Cougars willed themselves to tie the game at 25 thanks to a kill by their senior leader, Sam Kull. But like the first set, it was not meant to be as the Saints would score two straight points to win the second set 27-25 and take the all-important 2-0 game lead.
In the pivotal third set, the game seemed like it would stick to the status quo as Siena Heights would jump out to a lead by the score of 9-4. The Cougars responded by going on a 6-2 run to close the gap to 11-10.
The Cougars’ run was answered, once again, by the Saints as they would five of the next seven points to extend their lead to 16-12.
At this point, something clicked for the Cougars as they capitalized on their opponents’ mistakes and their offense started to get hot resulting in the Cougars going on a massive 12-1 run to take the lead at 24-17.
This well-timed offensive run would be enough for the Cougars as they went on to win the set 25-19. Despite the set win, they still found themselves down in the game 2-1 and having to win two straight sets if they wanted to have any chance of making the national tournament.
The fourth set started out differently from the previous sets as both teams battled each other, eventually being tied at 6-6. From there, the Saints went ahead by scoring four straight points to take a 10-6 lead.
The Cougars, desperate to not allow their season to end on this day, would get back into it by inching their way back. This effort would eventually result in a 16-16 tie. After the tie, Siena Heights scored three of the next four points to take a 19-17 lead.
Once again on the cusp of defeat, the Cougars would not go down quietly, scoring four straight points to take the lead at 21-19. But Siena Heights responded, going on a 5-1 run to put themselves up 24-22.
Down by two on the game point is a daunting task for any volleyball team to overcome. Very few teams can handle that kind of pressure and turn the game around. St. Xavier proved to be one of those teams scoring two straight points to tie the game at 24.
Siena Heights put the pressure back on the Cougars by scoring a point and taking a 25-24 lead. Once again with their season on the line, the Cougars delivered scoring three straight points to take the set 27-25 and tying the game at 2-2.
In the fifth and final set, the Cougars used their newfound momentum to surge to an 11-3 lead thanks to the Cougars’ offense and some errors by the Saints. From there, the Cougars coasted to a 15-8 set win and complete the epic comeback, winning the game 3-2.
Outside hitter Sean Barry was a force in this game, recording career-highs with 16 kills and five block assists. Kull was nothing short of incredible in this game as well with 12 kills, four aces, and a St. Xavier volleyball record 14 total blocks.
Kull also set St. Xavier season records with 310 kills, 54 aces, and 26 solo blocks on the season so far. Craig Rosner posted a career high 11 kills.
Dan O’Keefe and Dominic Villa were both defensive stalwarts in this game, with the former recording a career high 13 digs and the latter leading the team in digs with 14. Setter Moises Lopez finished the game with a game high 43 assists.
The Cougars set a new team record for block assists in a game with 32 of them.
With the win, the Cougars record stood 12-14. They also moved to the conference semifinals with the win and played the #1 seed: Lourdes University.
On Saturday, March 28, the Cougars played Lourdes University in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Conference tournament. The Cougars could not win this one and save their season, but this season was by no means a failure.
In the first set, the Cougars and the Gray Wolves battled in a back and forth contest that saw neither team gain a significant advantage at the beginning of the game. In fact, the largest lead in the first set was only a three point lead by the Cougars at 10-7.
From there, Lourdes scored three straight points to tie the game at 10-10. This was the theme of the set as every time the Cougars extended their lead, the Gray Wolves answered right back to either tie them or take a small lead on them.
The game turned after the Cougars took an 18-16 lead. At that point the Gray Wolves went on a 5-2 run to take a 21-20 lead over the Cougars.
After some more back and forth action that saw the Cougars remain down 23-22, the Cougars scored two straight points to take a 24-23 lead on the #1 seeded team.
With the set on the line, all the Cougars had to do was gain the next point and they would have taken a 1-0 game lead on Lourdes. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as the Cougars would give up three straight points to the Gray Wolves to lose the set 26-24 and to give Lourdes a 1-0 game lead.
The second set was similar to the first as both teams would engage in a see-saw battle at its beginning until the set was even at 8-8. At this point, the Cougars scored four of the next five points to take a 12-9 lead on Lourdes.
But the Gray Wolves stormed back going on a 6-1 run to take the lead at 15-13.
After the Cougars tied the game at 16, Lourdes went on a 7-2 run to push their lead to 23-18. That ended up being the deciding run as the Cougars lost the second set 25-20 and find themselves down 2-0 in the game.
The start of the third set was parallel to the start of the first two as Lourdes and St. Xavier battled with each other for the majority of the third set.
St. Xavier gave the #1 seed in the conference tournament everything they could handle in this set as well as the other two sets and as they kept battling, you believed that St. Xavier could potentially pull off another miracle comeback like they did the day before.
But Lourdes did their scouting report and made sure that this did not happen. Tied at 13-13, the Gray Wolves knew that they had to put the Cougars away, and they did just that by going on a 12-1 run to win the third set 25-14 and sweeping the Cougars 3-0.
Outside hitter Sean Barry led the team with 13 kills on the night. Middle blocker Sam Kull finished the game with 10 kills. Setter Moises Lopez lead the Cougars with 34 assists.
Craig Rosner and Bradley Gadek each finished the game with four block assists. Libero Dominic Villa had five digs to help the Cougars defensively.
With the loss, the Cougars end the year with a record of 12-15 with a conference record of 8-6.
Despite the loss, this season was the best season in St. Xavier volleyball history and has made everyone believe that the future of St. Xavier volleyball is bright.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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