Men's Volleyball blocks way to comeback victory over Marian

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University men's volleyball defeated Marian University 3-2 tonight in divisional action. The Griffins started the game 2-0 before Marian came back to force the fifth set in their first conference game of the year. Fontbonne trailed 8-3 before tying the game 10-10 on a solo block by TJ Vorva. Marian took a 13-10 lead but the Griffins closed out the win with five straight points as they now sit 3-1 in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. Fontbonne is now 6-2 overall as Marian slips to 1-4.

After winning the first set 25-22, Fontbonne led 24-22 after a Marian service error. The Sabres clawed back with three consecutive points to force overtime. A Marian tip was revenged by Fontbonne's Tony Pitaro and Vorva to give the home team a 28-27 edge. After Marian tied the game, Stephen Lendy's kill was rewarded with a block by Vorva and Emir Hadzisalihovic to finish the set.

Marian led for most of the third set as the Griffins found themselves down 20-12 after a Sabre eight-point run. Fontbonne pulled within two as Marian avoided the sweep in the 25-22 set.

Fontbonne trailed 16-11 in the fourth set but two kills and an ace gave the Griffins enough momentum for Marian to call a timeout. That timeout would be enough as Marian forced the fifth set with a 25-23 victory.

After Fontbonne scored four straight points to finally hold the lead in the final set, Marian called a timeout to try and ice Stephen Lendy serving. Lendy's serve was hard enough to upset Marian's attack and give the Griffins the chance to put the game away and that they did. Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell set up Brendon Schwartze on the outside as he converted his 15th kill of the game.

Lendy led the Griffins with 21 kills while Hadzisalihovic hit .438 and tallied seven block assists. Van Rossum-O'Connell achieved 33 assists while he added eight digs and one block assist to his totals. Zach Rothstein defended the backcourt with 16 digs whiel Schwartze added 11. The Griffins recorded 12 total team blocks for the second game in a row, their highest of the season, while they also served up eight aces, five of which came from Lendy.

Marian accumulated 16 service errors in their first conference game. Jon Smallpage led the Sabres with the game-high 27 kills while Jon Sattersten's 13 kills came on a .478 kill percentage.

Fontbonne hosts Adrian College Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in their final game of the weekend.