Palos Heights, Ill. – The No. 14-ranked AQ men's volleyball team finished its six-match road stand today (Feb. 4) with doubleheader action. Aquinas took on Viterbo University to start the day at 2:00 PM EST. Following that match, Aquinas took on Trinity Christian.

AQ picked up its first sweep of the season against Viterbo with a 3-0 victory. The Saints won a thrilling first set 33-31, then proceeded to win the next two sets 25-17 and 25-19. The second match did not end as favorably. After a dominant 25-14 win in the first set, TCU rallied back and won the next three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-22, and 25-13.

Aquinas now moves to 3-3 on the season after splitting the doubleheader today.

Match 1: #14 Aquinas 3, Viterbo 0 (33-31, 25-17, 25-19)

Aquinas was looking to put the loss to No. 12-ranked Saint Xavier in the rearview mirror to start the first set. A massive 7-0 run that featured kills from Carter Sabo, Julian Armendano, and Joshua Boothroyd did just that early on in the first. Following that run, both sides began trading points back and forth with Viterbo slowly inching back into the set.

Viterbo finally managed to string together a run later on in the first set and tied the score at 17. However, Aquinas immediately responded with a 4-0 run that included kills from Sabo and Boothroyd, along with a block from Alexander Rodriguez and Sabo. Boothroyd went on to score the next three points for Aquinas and force set point with a 24-21 advantage.

Thrilling, suspenseful volleyball ensued that started with a 3-0 run from Viterbo to tie the score at 24. AQ took set points at 25-24 and 26-25, but Viterbo flipped the script and took set point with a score of 28-27.  Aquinas scored the next two points to take set point, followed by a 2-0 run from Viterbo to take set point again with the score now at 30-29. Aquinas evened the score, but Viterbo took set point once again with a 31-30 advantage.

A service error from the V-Hawks evened the score at 31. Then, Boothroyd provided the finishing blows with consecutive kills to end the set 33-31 in favor of AQ. Boothroyd had an incredible nine kills in the first set to pair with his one block assist.

The second set started the same way as the first one ended. Both teams continued to go back and forth until the score was even at 11-11. On the following point, the V-Hawks committed an error that allowed AQ to begin to pick up some momentum. A pair of blocks from the duo of Chase Gil and Sabo, along with an ace from Boothroyd, gave AQ a much-needed 4-0 run.

That run allowed the Saints to gain some distance from Viterbo and the Saints were able to sustain that lead throughout the set. Kills from Boothroyd and Gil ended the set with a 25-17 victory in favor of Aquinas.

Viterbo got behind early in the third set after another 7-0 run from AQ gave the Saints a 13-7 lead. VU nearly made a comeback midway through the second set, but Boothroyd's phenomenal play continued, reestablishing a commanding 22-16 advantage.

The V-Hawks scored a few points back, but a kill from Armendano completed the 3-0 sweep with a score of 25-19.

Aquinas dominated the statistical categories, leading in kills (50-31), hitting percentage (.254-.142), aces (5-1), blocks (8-6), assists (50-31), and digs (57-42).

Match 2: Trinity Christian 3, #14 Aquinas 1 (25-14, 22-25, 22-25, 13-25)

A slew of errors from the Trinity Christian Trolls gave AQ an early 4-0 lead to start the first set. The Trolls pulled a few points back, but errors continued to plague the home side, giving AQ a 10-5 lead early in the first set.

The errors continued for TCU as the first set progressed, giving AQ a commanding lead. The trio of Armendano, Boothroyd, and Gil combined for nine of AQ's 10 kills throughout the first set as Aquinas raced out to a 25-14 victory in the first set.

Set number two had a bit of a different start with Trinity Christian taking a 14-10 advantage. However, the errors returned to haunt the Trolls, giving AQ a 5-0 run and forcing the home team to use its first timeout. Following the timeout, Trinity Christian went on a 5-2 run to reestablish its lead. Aquinas nearly completed a comeback in the second set, narrowing the TCU lead to 22-21. The Trolls quickly extinguished the AQ momentum following that 21st point, going on a 3-1 run to finish the second set 25-22.

The third set played similarly to the second set with the exception of the fact that Aquinas were the ones that held a lead for a majority of the set. However, unlike the second set, Trinity Christian managed to complete a late comeback. With an 18-14 advantage for Aquinas, the Trolls put together a 5-0 run to take a late lead.

Aquinas immediately responded, but TCU finished out the comeback with another 25-22 victory in the third set.

With the match on the line, TCU maintained the momentum that they had built up during the third set. Several large runs from the Trolls gave them a large lead that Aquinas was not able to overcome. Trinity Christian won the set 25-13 and earned a 3-1 match victory.

TCU held a slim advantage in most statistical categories, leading in kills (49-40), aces (10-2), blocks (7-6), and assists (48-36). AQ had a higher hitting percentage (.215-.182) and more digs (41-39).

Armendano tallied 15 kills in the first match and 16 kills in the second match for a total of 31 kills over the two matches. In addition, he racked up one assist, one ace, two solo blocks, two block assists, and a team-high 24 digs.

Boothroyd combined for 26 kills throughout the two matches (18 and 8), along with three assists, an ace, two block assists, and 14 digs.

Leo-Paul Rousseau played well as the setter, setting 45 kills in the first match and 27 in the second match. He also had one kill, one ace, three block assists, and 18 digs over seven sets of play.

Aquinas is back in action this Tuesday (Feb. 7) to take on the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM and will be AQ's first home match of the 2023 season.