Olivet, Mich. – Aquinas returned to the court tonight (Feb. 1) fresh off its reverse sweep over Calvin last week. AQ took on nonconference foe Olivet and earned a four-set victory over the Comets. The Saints won by set scores of 25-22, 25-20, 19-25, and 25-22.

AQ improves to 2-0 in the young season while the Comets fall to 2-5.

Aquinas 3, Olivet 1 (25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22)

Olivet picked up the match's first point, but Joseph Koss responded with a kill of his own and then a couple of Comet errors had AQ ahead early. Errors from both sides proved to be the primary source of points for both teams for most of the set. Olivet managed to string together a few kills to take a 17-14 lead.

AQ finally got the run it needed after blocks from Noah Smith-Slosar, Chase Gil, and Connor Staats gave Aquinas some momentum. Smith-Slosar and Staats followed the pair of blocks with a pair of kills to give the Saints a 19-17 edge and force an Olivet timeout. However, the home side responded with a 5-1 run for a 22-20 advantage.

Staats sparked another run to save the set and Dominic Nelson recorded his first career kill for Aquinas to cap off a 5-0 run and a 25-22 first set victory.

Aquinas continued that momentum into the second set and took an early lead. Kills from Zachary Nosky and Staats, along with a block from Gil and Staats put AQ ahead 14-8. The two sides traded points, but Olivet couldn't cover the deficit and the Saints grabbed a 25-20 second set victory after a triumphant Nosky kill to end the set.

With Aquinas pressuring a potential sweep, Olivet put together a 12-3 run to give the Comets a commanding 15-7 lead in the third set. Kills from Andrew Jones, Alexander Rodriguez, and Nosky briefly reduced the deficit, but Olivet earned itself a match-point opportunity with a scoreline of 24-14. The Saints strung together five points, but Olivet earned the inevitable 25th point to prevent the sweep on its home court.

The fourth set began close with the two sides splitting the first ten points. Kills from Ernesto Lopez and Gil swung the momentum in AQ's favor a bit, putting AQ ahead. Another run that featured kills from Lopez and Staats, along with a Smith-Slosar ace put AQ ahead by five.

Aquinas appeared to be cruising to a fourth-set win until Olivet rallied to cut the deficit to just one with the score at 19-18. Kills from Staats, Smith-Slosar, Rousseau, Jones, and Gil staved off the late comeback attempt from Olivet as Staats picked up the final kill of the match for a 25-22 fourth-set victory.

By the Numbers

The box score was fairly close between the two teams as AQ held a slim advantage in kills (46-41), hitting percentage (.184-.131), blocks (9-7), assists (43-38), and digs (48-47). Olivet had just one more kill than Aquinas (4-3).

Staats once again led the team in kills with 12 (.138) and paired those kills with an ace, two block assists, and six digs.

Gil had a busy night on the front row with his four block assists, four digs, and five kills.

Up Next

Aquinas continues its busy weekend with a pair of home matches. AQ is set to take on Judson tomorrow night (Feb. 2) at 7:00 p.m. and Trinity Christian on Saturday (Feb. 3) at 8:30 a.m.