Men's Volleyball Wins Home Opener Over Illinois Wesleyan

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team had its home opener on Tuesday and picked up a four-set victory over Illinois Wesleyan.

Result

Fontbonne def. Ill. Wesleyan, 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20)

Set Notes

Set 1: The Griffins opened with a 10-9 lead on Logan Irby's service ace and stretched it out to 18-12 after a Titans attack error. The Griffins never relinquished its advantage from there going on for the 25-19 win.

Fontbonne had 11 kills and a .286 hitting percentage in the first. Cameron Graves led with four kills and a .667 hitting percentage.

Set 2: In the second set, the Griffins jumped out to a commanding 11-5 lead on Ryan Lively's kill. The Titans tried to make things interesting trailing 19-17, but the Griffins fended off the charge from IWU for the 25-19 win.

It was another strong set offensively for the Griffins with 10 kills and a .533 hitting percentage. Lively led with four kills and the Griffins added five more blocks giving them eight through two sets.

Set 3: In the third, the two teams were tied 12-12 on a Titans service error. Illinois Wesleyan went on a 5-0 run with Michael Eastman's kill giving them a 17-12 lead.

Fontbonne trailed 22-21 but were unable to mount a comeback with IWU closing out on a 3-0 run for the 25-21 win.

Fontbonne struggled in the third with seven kills and seven errors for a .000 hitting percentage. The Titans had its best set offensively with a match-high 16 kills.

Set 4: The Titans carried that momentum over into the fourth grabbing an 11-7 lead. Fontbonne answered outscoring IWU 11-1 to take an 18-12 lead on Paasch's kill. Fontbonne were able to finish off the Titans for the 25-20 set and match win.

Team Stats

• Fontbonne finished with 39 kills and a .212 hitting percentage.
• At the net, the Griffins totaled a season-high 13 blocks, including a season-high eight solo blocks.
• The Titans ended with 50 kills and a .168 hitting percentage.

Top Griffins

Cameron Graves: 13 kills, season-high .409 hitting percentage

Joseph Huster: eight kills, season-high .571 hitting percentage

Alex Gantt: 16 assists

Demitrius Allen: 15 assists

Nate Paasch: 11 digs

Up Next

The Griffins are back at home on Saturday taking on St. Norbert at 11 a.m., followed by Augustana at 5 p.m. 

Make sure to follow the men's volleyball team on all its social media accounts: Twitter(@FBUGriffinsMVB), Instagram (@fontbonnemvb) and Facebook (/FontbonneUGriffins).