[Men's Volleyball] Men's Volleyball Falls in 4 to Lourdes
DES MOINES, IA - The #8 seeded St. Andrews University Men's Volleyball team fell 3-1 (27-25, 23-25, 17-25, 18-25) to 5th seeded Lourdes University (OH) in the final match of Pool A of the NAIA National Invitational on Thursday morning in Des Moines, Iowa.
Even though SAU was not victorious in their first-ever national tournament, they finished their third season 19-9 as they set all sorts of program records in 2018 including program wins (19), winning streak (9), conference wins (10) as well as a SE Regional Tournament Championship.
LOURDES 3, SAU 1
St. Andrews got out to a great start coming back to steal the first set 27-25 as they trailed for the majority of the set. SAU hit .211 with 13 kills while Lourdes had 15 kills but made 8 errors.
The second set was very close throughout as the teams would go back and forth, but SAU could not quite get over the hump never getting within two points as they fell 25-23 but scored 15 kills hitting .250. However, Lourdes hit .258 with 13 kills to pull out the set.
The third set was then dominated by the bearcats as they rolled to a 25-17 win behind 14 kills while hitting .478 as SAU only managed 11 kills with 6 errors. Lourdes also controlled the fourth set from start to finish to take it 25-18 on 13 kills to SAU's 12 but LU hit .355.
Lourdes barely outscored the Knights in kills, 55-51 while hitting .289. SAU then hit .208 with 47 digs and 9 blocks as they held the Bearcats to just 6 blocks. SAU, however committed 18 service errors while Lourdes only committed 10 leading to a big difference in the match.
Senior OH and all-conference first team member Robin Imar (SR/St. Medard, France) finished his collegiate career by leading the Knights in kills one more time with 14 while hitting a team-best .323. He also added 6 digs along with 2 blocks, 2 aces and 2 assists while Sophomore second team all-conference Setter Jackson Stark (SO/St. Louis, MO) added 41 assists, his highest of the tournament, along with 7 digs, 3 blocks, and 2 kills.
Sophomore right side Edgar Huerta (SO/Salinas, CA) also recorded his first double -double of the season with 13 kills and 11 digs along with 2 blocks while hitting .219.
Freshman outside Hitter Diego Hernandez (FR/San Juan, Puerto Rico) also added 11 kills as he hit .176 with 9 digs, and a block while sophomore middle blocker Nate Blackwell (SO/Menifee, CA) also contributed 6 kills and 5 blocks. Senior middle Sean Hale (SR/Angels Camp, CA) also finished his collegiate career with 4 kills and 2 blocks while Sophomore Libero Jacob DeSouza (SO/Quail Valley, CA) added 11 digs with 3 assists.
Lourdes improves to 23-7 on the season and advances to the NAIA Semifinals to face the top seed from Pool B, 6th ranked Benedictine-Mesa University (AZ) on Friday evening.