Men's Volleyball Falls In A Five Set Thriller Against Messiah In The First Round Of The NCAA Tournament

SALEM, Va.—The (RV) Fontbonne University men's volleyball team statistically had one of its best matches on the season and despite its valiant efforts on both sides of the net the Griffins fell in heartbreaking fashion in five against No. 14 Messiah in the NCAA Tournament First Round.

Final:

Messiah 3, Fontbonne 2

(26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-11)

Set Breakdown:

Set 1: In the first, consecutive kills from Ryan Lively and Graves evened up the score, 11-11. The two teams continued its offensive showing with the Falcons clinging to a marginal 21-19 lead.

Fontbonne was able to tie the set up at 24-24 on Graves' kill but the Falcons collected the final two points for the win.

Both teams had a spectacular first set with Fontbonne totaling 16 kills and a .406 hitting percentage. The Falcons also finished with 16 kills and just one error for a .500 hitting percentage.

Set 2: In the second set, the Griffins held a lead throughout and stretched it out to 19-15 on Graves' kill. After a Falcons timeout, the Griffins still were on top 22-17 on Braden Woolsey's kill.

Messiah trimmed the deficit down to 22-20 but Fontbonne finished them off on Graves kill for the 25-22 victory.

Set 3: The Falcons opened with a 7-3 lead and seemed to be in control with a 17-11 advantage. The Griffins stormed back going on a 10-4 run with a ball handling error by Messiah giving Fontbonne a 21-20 lead.

The Falcons responded with a 3-0 run forcing Fontbonne to take a timeout. Out of the break, the Falcons fended off Fontbonne for the 25-23 win on Mason Nissley's kill.

Set 4: In the fourth, the Falcons led 13-9 but a 4-0 run from Fontbonne capped off a block assist from Jacob Hartmann and Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell.

The Griffins went on to regain the advantage and expanded it out to 22-18. It was all Fontbonne the rest of the way forcing a fifth and final set on a block assist from Ryan Lively and Hartmann.

Set 5: In the fifth, the Falcons got to the race to eight first grabbing an 8-5 lead on Nissley's kill. Fontbonne got the deficit down to 13-10 but Messiah was able to go on for the 15-11 set and match win.

Head-to-Head

• Fontbonne finished with 61 kills and a .397 hitting percentage.
• At the net, the Griffins set a season-high with eight solo blocks and 14 blocks overall.
• Messiah ended with 67 kills and a .344 hitting percentage.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Cameron Graves led with a season-high 20 kills and .469 hitting percentage.
• Ryan Lively added 17 kills and a .438 hitting percentage.
• Braden Woolsey filled up his stat line with 10 kills, a .526 hitting percentage, and tied his season-high with five solo blocks.
• Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell dished out 53 assists to go along with four digs and four block assists.
• Zach Rothstein led with eight digs.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates on the men's volleyball team.

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