Griffins win final home contest

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne men's volleyball hosted their final two home games Saturday with a loss to MCVL rival Lakeland and a win on senior day against Illinois Tech. 

Lakeland

Fontbonne came out strong against a team with only one conference loss. The Griffins started off with an 8-4 lead before Lakeland fought their way back. The Griffins were down 17-20 and posted three straight points to tie the game. Lakeland went on to win 25-23. 

Trailing 2-7, Fontbonne posted four points to pull within one. the final two points came on back-to-back blocks, first a team block by Tony Pitaro and Brendson Schwartze and then a solo block by TJ Vorva. The game was tied 11-11 before the Muskies scored four in a row. Not to be out-done the Griffins scord four themselves. Fontbonne trailed 17-18 before Lakeland closed out the second set 7-2. 

The Griffins got off to a rocky start (1-4) before speeding ahead to a 5-4 lead that against included two blocks in a row. This time Emir Hadzisalihovic recorded a solo block in the middle from a Lakeland back-row attack while the middle and Schwartze teamed up for an outside block to take the lead. Fontbonne trailed 7-9 while a kill by Pitaro and two service aces from Gabe Grote gave the home team a 10-9 advantage. It was Fontbonne's final lead of the match as Lakeland went on to win 25-16. 

Schwartze tallied 11 kills on the loss. Jacob Lendy assisted 25 times with a team-high 12 digs as Grote recorded 11 digs.

The loss took the Griffins' record to 10-7 and a conference record to 3-6. 

With some time between the Lakeland loss and their final home game of the season, the Griffins chatted with fans and after warmups, Fontbonne recognized their lone season, Jimmy Stika. Stika is a four-year starter from the St. Louis area and one of several Affton High School alums on the team.

Illinois Tech

While Stika led the team with 10 digs over Illinois Tech, he also had an unusual four assists in the win. Stika now has 719 career digs, second-most in Fontbonne history.

Fontbonne jumped out to a 14-7 lead before Illinois Tech wanted a timeout. The Griffins then led 20-11 and after a triple block the visitors took their second break, but Fontbonne went on to win set one 25-18. 

Second-set woes began once again as Illinois Tech took a 7-6 lead. Play continued back and forth with five ties until Fontbonne scored eight points in a row to break open the score. Grote was serving during the run that led up to a 13-3 close and 25-15 victory for the home team. 

Fontbonne led 11-9 in the final frame before the Scarlet Hawks' 9-2 run and 16-13 lead. The Griffins scored six straight points including four kills by junior Zack Pelker and two blocks. Freshman Aaron Kowalewski had fans rocking with a solo block that he followed up with a team block next to Schwartze. The Griffins won their final set 25-20. 

Pelker recorded seven kills on 11 attempts for a .545 hitting percentage while Schwartze totaled nine kills and a .500 kill percentage. The win now gives Fontbonne an 11-6 overall record, with plenty of room to increase the school record of wins in a season. 

The Griffins will play MCVL matches at Mount St. Joseph and Wittenberg this weekend before heading to the east coast next week over spring break for five games.