On Tuesday, March 8, the Saint Xavier men’s volleyball team took on the #9 ranked team in the NAIA and conference foe Robert Morris University in Arlington Heights, IL. The Cougars would not win a set in this game, despite being close to their rivals throughout the game.
As expected, Robert Morris would start out well in the first set as they would jump out to an early 10-7 lead on the Cougars at home. However, the Cougars would show their rivals that they would not go away in this game, going on an 8-3 run to take their first lead of the set at 15-13.
At this point, Robert Morris would show why they are so highly rated, coming back to tie the game at 20-20 with a 7-5 run. With the all-important first set on the line and the Cougars so close to the upset first set victory, the Cougars would need one last run to complete what many thought would not be possible on the road.
However, the Cougars would commit three costly errors to essentially hand the Eagles a first set victory by the score of 25-22 and give their rivals a 1-0 game lead. In the second set, it would be the Cougars that would jump out to an early 3-2 lead. This lead would be short-lived though, as Robert Morris would go on a 6-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 8-5.
The Cougars would once again answer right back with their own 6-3 run to tie the game at 11. From there, both teams would go back and forth with each other, not letting the other gain too much ground in their efforts to win the set. With the score at 20-18 in favor of Robert Morris, mistakes would once again hurt the Cougars, as three late errors would once again give the Eagles another set win, this time by the score of 25-21.
Down 2-0 in the game, this would be the Cougars’ last opportunity to make a stand and to show their grit and determination. They would get off to a good start in the third set, taking an early 6-5 lead on their rivals. However, this lead would exist for just a fleeting moment as RMU would go on an 8-3 run to take the lead at 13-9.
But the Cougars would go on their own 4-2 run to cut the score to 15-13. From there though, the Cougars trend of making mistakes at inopportune times would once again lead to their downfall as three attacking errors would allow for their rivals to go on a 7-3 run to extend their lead to 22-16.
The game would end soon afterwards with Robert Morris winning the set by the score of 25-19 and sweeping the game 3-0. Despite getting swept, the Cougars would have to put this disappointing result behind them and get ready for their game on Friday against Lourdes University. On Friday, March 11, the Saint Xavier men’s volleyball team would compete against the #8 team in the NAIA: Lourdes University.
Behind a strong attack, Lourdes would not allow for the Cougars to be that close to them throughout the game. Lourdes would pounce on the Cougars very early, starting the game out on a torrid 13-4 run that set the tone for the game early. The Cougars would attempt to come back from this, going on a 3-1 run to cut the score to 14-7.
That would be as close as the Cougars would get in the first set as Lourdes would go on a 5-1 run to extend their lead to 19-8 and would be able to hold their lead en route to a 25-14 set win and a 1-0 game lead. After getting thrashed in the first set, the Cougars would begin the set with a renewed enthusiasm and focus in an effort to avoid another thrashing at the hands of their very talented foes.
This would prove itself to be true as the Cougars would open the set scoring six of the first nine points to take an early 6-3 lead. This lead would not last long however, as Lourdes would score five straight points to take their first lead of the set at 8-6. From there, the Cougars would show the resiliency that they displayed in their last game as they would trade points with Lourdes until the score was 13-11.
At this point, Lourdes would separate themselves from Saint Xavier with a 7-2 run to make the score 20-13. Lourdes would then use this run to cement their lead for good, as both teams would trade points with each other until the end of the set, which saw Lourdes beat the Cougars 25-18. Down 2-0 against a clearly superior opposition, the Cougars would have to put together their best set of the season if they did not want to get swept in this game.
Unfortunately for them, the complete opposite would happen as Lourdes would use an unrelenting attack to completely dominate the Cougars from the get-go in the third set. The run for Lourdes would be a monstrous one, scoring 20 of the first 26 points to give themselves a 20-6 lead before the Cougars could even blink.
As you could probably guess, this game was all but over at this point and all that was left of it was to finish out the scoring with the final score being 25-11 and the Cougars once again being swept. The Cougars would have to turn around quickly from this devastating loss as they would play their third game of the week on Saturday.
On Saturday, March 12, the Saint Xavier men’s volleyball would play in their third game of the week against Siena Heights University on the road. The Cougars would once again get swept in this game, completing what could be considered a horrible week for the men’s volleyball team.
The first set would start out well for the Cougars, as they would take an early 7-6 lead. After the last game, you would have thought that this start was a sign that this game would be much different from the others that the Cougars played this week.
However, this good start would not last as Siena Heights would go on a set-defining 14-3 run to put themselves on top 20-10. The Cougars would attempt to come back, scoring three of the next five points to cut the score to 22-13, but that would be their last hurrah of the set as SHU would end the set scoring three straight points and winning said set by the score of 25-13.
Down 1-0 in the game, the Cougars would have to do something to change their fortunes and to get their first set win of the week. They would do just that as they would start the pivotal second set scoring eight of the first ten points to take an early 8-2 lead. From here though, the game would change as Siena Heights would stop making mistakes and the Cougars’ offense would sputter.
Inch by inch, Siena Heights would come closer and closer to the Cougars, eventually getting to within one points of the Cougars at 18-17. At this point though, Siena would use their slowly building momentum to go on set-ending 8-1 run to win the set by the score of 25-19 and taking a commanding 2-0 game lead.
After collapsing in the previous set, it would have been completely understandable if the Cougars would have packed it in for the third set after suffering a devastating set loss. It looked, at first, as if they were packing it in as they would allow Siena to jump out to a 7-4 lead.
However, they would display tremendous heart and grit from there on tying the game at 9 after going on a 5-2 run. Once again though, SHU would gain the lead after a 4-1 run saw them go up 13-10. But again, the Cougars would fight back, scoring six of the next nine points to tie the game at 16-16.
After some great back and forth action, the game would remain tied until the score was 20-20. With the set and the game on the line though, the Cougars seemed to run out of energy and fight as they allow their opponents to score five of the final seven points to win the set by the score of 25-22 and sweep the set 3-0.
With the three losses, the Cougars’ record now sits at 5-13 with a conference record of 2-5. The Cougars will be looking to get into the win column when the retake the court on Tuesday, March 22, when they take on Cardinal Stritch University.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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