Griffins upset #12 Medaille College

St. Louis- Men's volleyball traveled to Milwaukee, Wis. this past weekend to play Vassar College, Medaille College, Thiel College, and Endicott College at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

The biggest game of the weekend occurred on Sunday as Fontbonne defeated #12 Medaille in a stunning 5-set match. The Griffins gave it their all winning 25-18, 20-25, 14-25, 25-23 and 15-12.

Medaille led the rally after three sets 3-1. Fontbonne was trailing by 3 for the beginning of the 4th set until a service ace from Cody Schmelzle tied the game at 8. The Griffins gained the lead and held on despite Medaille trying to close in and end the match.

The fifth set began with Medaille starting a 3-0 run before Coach Haston called a timeout to reel his guys back into focus. Fontbonne again trailed until tieing the score at 8. Medaille counter-acted with a kill to lead 9-8 and Fontbonne tied it once more with a kill by Schmelze. Medaille rebounded with a kill for the final tie. Fontbonne took control with the score 11-10 after a block by Marc Viglasky and Dominic Prospero. That block sparked a Griffin 5-2 run, good enough to finish for the win!

Graue collected 19 kills (a season high) during the match and teammate Braxton Payne contributed with 12. Justin Winkelmann assisted 39 times to edge Fontbonne to victory. Fontbonne's defense held them in the game. Dominic Prospero recorded 18 digs against Medaille and Fontbonne recorded 4 solo blocks and 8 team blocks for a total of 12 blocks in the match.

The match against Medaille was the third of the weekend, and the 1st of 2 games Sunday. On Saturday, Fontbonne fell to Vassar (14-25, 25-21, 14-25 and 14-25) and Endicott (20-25, 16-25 and 14-25). After defeating Medaille, Fontbonne lost their final match of the weekend to Thiel 22-25, 23-25 and 20-25.

Fontbonne's next match will be senior night for Braxton Payne on Saturday, March 23rd at 6pm in the Dunham Student Activity Center on Fontbonne's main campus.