SXU pictured together after winning CCAC championship SXU Athletics
After defeating Judson University in the CCAC semifinals, the Cougars won their fifth straight CCAC championship title.
The Cougars completely dominated in both matches, making them this year’s CCAC champions. Saint Xavier also won in 2019 and between the years of 2021 and 2024. There was no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The win earned SXU a berth into the 2024 NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Championship Tournament. This tournament will take place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and will commence from April 30 to May 4.
No. 7 SXU vs Judson University: 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 (W)
The Cougars come out strong in the CCAC tournament as they easily take down Judson in the semifinals. They got the job done with a sweep and improved their record to 20-8, winning 14 games in a row.
The star of this game was sophomore libero Andres Velez who finished the match with a statline of 12 digs, and five assists. Velez set a single-season program record for digs in a season with 307.
Junior outside hitter Sean Carey led the team in kills with nine and also came away with a block assist.
Junior outside hitter Matt Pennala had himself a good game with a statline of 11 digs, and three kills, just shy of a double-double recording eight kills. Pennala also added two blocks and one assist.
Sophomore outside hitter Jan Lopuch performed well as he recorded seven kills, four digs, two assists, two blocks (one solo), and two service aces.
Fifth-year senior setter Christian Oviedo made a great impact in this match as he recorded a match-best 23 assists and also added four digs to his statline.
Fifth-year senior middle blocker Drew Ehlers put on a show on the offensive and defensive side of the match. Ehlers posted six kills on a .667 attack percentage (6-0-9). Ehlers tallied a total of three blocks (one solo), and also added an assist and a dig.
Freshman setter Cameron Daniels recorded a match-high three aces with a pair of assists and four digs.
No. 7 SXU vs. Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.): 25-16, 25-17, 25-22 (W)
The Cougars posted their best team attack percentage of the season at .413 (39-8-75) in this match. The last time the Cougars surpassed a team attack percentage of .400 or better was in last year’s CCAC Championship game at .494 (47-9-77).
Lopuch and Pennala tied for a match-high of 10 kills. Lopuch recorded these kills on a .381 attack percentage (10-2-21) and Pennala recorded his kills on an attack percentage of .389 (10-3-18).
Kills aren’t the only thing Lopuch recorded, as he also added nine digs, a block, and a service ace to his statline. Pennala came up with seven digs, two assists.
Oviedo gave it his all in the championship game as he finished the match with a match-best 30 assists and added three digs.
After having a great match in the semifinals, Carey continues to dominate in the Championship game as he tallied seven kills on a .429 attack percentage (7-1-14) with an assist and a dig.
Ehlers had an efficient match as he recorded six kills on 10 attempts (.600). He also added two blocks (one solo) to his statline.
Velez also came up big in this match, scooping up eight digs, and recording three assists and an ace.
Daniels had another great match registering a match-high three service aces.
The Cougars move on to the NAIA championship tournament which will be their fifth appearance in the national tournament, and they look to continue dominating competition.
The Cougars have won 15 straight matches and have put together an impressive record of 21-8, while also having an undefeated conference record of 10-0.
After a 0-5 rough start to the season, it didn’t seem very possible for the Cougars to be a contending team.Yet, they proved all their doubters wrong and were determined to have a strong season and become winners.
Saint Xavier has been on fire lately and there is absolutely nothing stopping the Cougars in their tracks of achieving greatness.
With the NAIA Tournament getting ready to begin on April 30, No. 7 Saint Xavier will participate in Pool C of the tournament and play Westcliff University (Calif.) on Day 2. Then they’ll play Grand View University (Iowa) on Day 3 of Pool Play. The National championship will start on May 4.