Griffins win first road game; Graue named to All-Tournament Team

Greensboro, Pa. - After losing both games on day one of the Thiel College Invitational, the Griffins opened Sunday morning with a win over Penn St.-Altoona in three straight sets. Fontbonne received a season-high 18 kills from senior Aaron Graue in the Griffins' first road win of 2015.

Fontbonne took PSU-Altoona down 25-22, 25-14, 13-25 and 25-21. After the close first set, the Griffins came out strong, leading 18-9 before allowing Altoona five more second-set points. Altoona started the final set with five straight points and ran away with the 25-13 victory. Altoona led the fourth set 5-4 but Fontbonne nailed down and held the lead for the remainder of the game for the win. Graue also recorded 10 digs while Libero Jimmy Stika dug out the Griffin-high 11 digs and setter Jacob Lendy totaled 45 assists. Peter Hibbeler tallied 5 block assists and one solo block in his first match of the day.

Following the victory, the Griffins took on Elmira College and fell in three sets 21-25, 21-25 and 18-25. Elmira helf the Griffins to just 25 kills while Fontbonne held strong on the serve receive, keeping Elmira's service aces to zero. Zack Pelker recorded two solo blocks in the loss.

Graue was chosen for the Thiel College Invitational All-Tournament Team. The outside hitter accumulated 50 kills, five aces and 27 digs as the Griffins went 1-3 on the weekend.

Stika tallied 49 digs and Lendy 118 assists in the four-game road trip.

Fontbonne travels to Milwaukee to take on their first Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League opponent MSOE this Friday, February 6th. First serve is set for 7:00 pm.