Adrian, Mich. – The (RV) AQ Saints men's volleyball team took to the road once again last night (Feb. 15) to take on the Siena Heights Saints in conference play. This match was the ninth road match over the first ten games of the season for Aquinas. The Saints ended their extended road stand with a bang, sweeping SHU in three straight sets by scores of 25-18, 25-17, and 25-18.

Julian Armendano set a new program record of hitting percentage in a single match last night after picking up 18 kills on 24 attacks with zero errors for an incredible .750 hitting percentage. That .750 hitting percentage broke Armendano's previous school record of a .692 hitting percentage set back on March 9 of 2021. Ironically, he also set the previous record against Siena Heights as well.

Aquinas now improves to 6-4 this season with a 5-2 conference record. Siena Heights drops to 5-5 with a 3-4 WHAC record.

The Saints took control of the first set early after scoring five of the first seven points to start the match. SHU quickly responded with four consecutive kills to take its first lead of the day as the two sides began to go back and forth. However, just a few points later, AQ went on a 3-0 run after a pair of errors from the home side and an ace from Joshua Boothroyd to give the Saints a 13-9 advantage.

Siena Heights was unable to take back any of the ground it have gave up with AQ maintaining a consistent lead throughout the set. Then, with the score at 18-15 in favor of AQ, a 4-0 run that featured a pair of kills from Armendano, a kill from Chase Gil, and a solo block from Gil put the Saints way out in front with a 22-15 upper hand.

SHU managed to score a couple of points back, but Boothroyd ended the first set with a kill to give Aquinas a 25-18 victory in set number one.

The second set started a little differently with the home side taking seven of the first 11 points. That SHU advantage didn't last for long after Aquinas immediately responded with a 6-0 run to give AQ its first lead of the set. The run featured a pair of kills from Boothroyd, a kill from Armendano, and an ace from Colin Ilagan.

Another pair of kills from Boothroyd a few points later had the Saints way out in front again with the score at 14-9. Siena Heights just couldn't slow down the Aquinas attack and a kill from Gil along with an ace from Ernesto Lopez ended the second set 25-17 in favor of AQ.

The third set was a continuation of AQ's hot streak. Aquinas held an 11-8 advantage and was finding success placing the ball all over the court. The next point started a 6-0 run for the visiting Saints after a pair of kills from Armendano, a kill from Leo-Paul Rousseau, and a trio of errors from SHU all but iced the match for Aquinas with the score now at 17-8.

Siena Heights started a bit of a rally but failed to string together a significant run. Kills from Joseph Koss and Tristan Lindquist ended the match with another 25-18 set victory.

The Saints dominated the box score, leading in kills (48-33), hitting percentage (.538-.217), aces (3-2), blocks (5-1), assists (47-31), and digs (29-23). Aquinas' incredible .538 hitting percentage was the second-best single-match hitting percentage in the history of the program. The mark fell short only to a .551 hitting percentage performance back on April 18 of 2019 against Saint Andrews. Aquinas posted 48 kills on 78 attempts last night with just six errors.

Armendano has officially moved back into the number-one position for kills in the NAIA after his 18-kill performance last night. In addition to his record-setting .750 hitting percentage performance, he had two assists and four digs in the win.

Boothroyd ended the night with 12 kills on 20 attacks with just two errors for an incredible .500 hitting percentage in his own right. He also had an ace, two solo blocks, and six digs.

Rousseau set a career-high of four kills in the victory after averaging over a kill per set as the setter. His four kills paired with 28 assists and two block assists on the night.

Aquinas returns to home-court action this weekend with matches against Bethel and Goshen. The Saints are set to take on Bethel inside the Sturrus Center this Friday (Feb. 17) with a 7:00 PM start time. AQ will follow that match with a 3:00 PM Saturday (Feb. 18) home match against Goshen.