Men's Volleyball wins season opener but received heartbreaking loss against Greenville

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne men's volleyball started the 2016 season off right with a sweep of Brooklyn College 25-19, 25-19 and 25-18.

The Griffins started off 5-0 against the Bulldogs and led 18-8 on a kill by freshman TJ Vorva before sophomore newcomer Brendon Schwartze closed out the set on a kill. Fontbonne struggled on the opposite end of the court as Brooklyn led 9-6 at one point. A huge kill by Vorva down the line tied the game 14-14 and shifted momentum Fontbonne's way. The Griffins secured four more points in a row for some cushion and carried it home for the win as Stephen Lendy put down the winning kill for set two. The Griffins jumped out to a 3-1 led but Brooklyn kept fighting and were leading 12-10 when Zack Pelker got Fontbonne rolling with a kill. The point was one of five consecutive which allowed Fontbonne to lead 15-12 but again Brooklyn fought back. The New York team led 17-16 until a kill by Lendy tied the game. Josh Eades came up big with a pancake dig followed which resulted in a kill by libero Jimmy Stika and an ace by Lendy gave Fontbonne a 19-17 advantage. The Griffins closed out the win scoring six points to Brooklyn's one.

In the win Schwartze recorded 12 kills while Lendy produced 10. Jacob Lendy totaled 30 assists while he and Eades both dug out eight Brooklyn attacks.

Greenville Recap

After defeating Greenville 25-20 in the opening round of a new rivaly, the Griffins found themselves trailing 13-9, but managed to tied the game 20-20 on a kill by Schwartze. Greenville then scored a 4-1 run. Fontbonne found themselves down by three with Greenville serving up the winning point but the nerves got the better of Daniel Bilinski who committed a service error. A solo block by Stephen Lendy meant Greenville still had a chance to hit 25 points and win by two so the Panthers called a timeout to try and ice freshman server Gabe Grote. It didn't work and Grote even scored the tying point with a backrow attack that hit the net and fell surrounded by Panthers in the center of the court. The second set tied at 25 and 26 with Greenville leading 27-26 after a sharp kill by Nicolas Bilinski. Greenville received the winning point on a bad set call on the Griffins, as of Fontbonne course fans and coaches objected.

Greenville maintained the lead in the third set until the end when Fontbonne led 21-20. The Griffins led 22-21 on a kill by Emir Hadzisalihovic and closed the win with three straight points and a block by Schwartze and Hadzisalihovic.

With a 2-1 advantage, Fontbonne trailed the entire fourth set and then led 10-7 to start the fifth. When Greenville cut the Griffin's lead to one, Fontbonne called a timeout, which worked for the next point. Greenville ended the set with six consecutive points and the match-win.

Paving the way for Greenville was Daniel Bilinski with 27 kills.

For the Griffins Hadzisalihovic totaled 12 while three other Griffins earned double digit kills. Vorva finished with 11 while Schwartze and Tony Pitaro each recorded 10. Vorva's .562 hitting percentage was a team-high. Eades and Stika each recorded 11 digs in the loss. Stika pulled the Griffins out of a jam multiple times on some hard-hit Greenville attacks.

Fontbonne is off until they travel to Rust College in Memphis, Tenn. on Jan. 30th.