Grand Rapids, Mich. – The men's volleyball team concluded a busy week this afternoon (Feb. 24) with another match against (RV) Mount Vernon Nazarene. AQ took home one of the sets today, but it was the Cougars that completed the sweep inside the Sturrus Center.

MVNU improves to 7-1 this season with a 4-1 conference record. AQ continues to slide with a 2-9 record.

Mount Vernon 3, Aquinas 1 (25-18, 25-14, 22-25, 25-16)

A couple of Cougar errors to start the match saw the Saints take a 2-0 lead, but Mount Vernon quickly regrouped to keep the score close. AQ maintained a steady lead as kills from Ernesto Lopez and a kill and a block from Chase Gil had the Saints ahead 11-10. However, a massive eight-point run from the visitors completely changed the momentum of the match.

The Saints pulled together a few points near the end of the set, but Mount Vernon went on to take down the first set.

That momentum continued on into the second set as the Cougars grabbed an early advantage and continued to build off of it throughout the entirety of the set. MVNU claimed the second set 25-14 and looked to be in position to claim a six-set sweep over AQ this weekend.

AQ had other plans as Connor Staats, Gil, Alexander Rodriguez, Zachary Nosky, and Leo-Paul Rousseau helped the home side take an early run. The two teams battled back and forth as MVNU slowly whittled away at AQ's lead. The Cougars eventually eliminated the lead entirely and took a 20-19 lead after a pair of errors.

AQ called a timeout to reset the momentum to try and take home the set. The timeout worked as Rousseau, Quinn Silverman, and Gil put down three consecutive kills. With the score at 23-22, an Andrew Jones kill and a block from Nosky and Silverman gave the Saints a much-needed third-set win.

However, a quick 9-2 run to start the fourth set put the Saints away. AQ was unable to stop the momentum that Mount Vernon started with as MVNU ended the match 3-1.

By the Numbers

Gil ended the contest with a team-high nine kills on 27 attacks. He did a bit of everything today, as he also recorded a solo block, two block assists, and three digs.

Rousseau ended the match with two kills, 32 assists, an ace, a block assist, and four digs for a solid match.

Up Next

Aquinas has some time off before its next match. The Saints take on Indiana Tech inside the Sturrus Center on March 1st at 7:00 p.m.