Griffins split Friday night games

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne got off to a slow start but finished their 5 p.m. matchup against Illinois Tech with a 3-1 victory. The Griffins then fell ill to Lakeland 3-0. Fontbonne is now 8-3 on the year and 4-2 in conference play. 

IIT

After suffering a first-set loss, Fontbonne rebounded with three blocks to lead 5-2 to open the second set. The Griffins never looked back as they dominated the final three sets 25-12, 25-18 and 25-17. 

Emir Hadzisalihovic led the Griffins with eight kills on 12 attempts for a .583 average. He also stacked up six block assists as TJ Vorva tallied five block assists and 10 kills. Also recording the team high 10 kills was Stephen Lendy.

Lakeland

After dropping the first set 25-, the Griffins limited Lakeland to zero leads until the very end of the set. Tied 13-13, the Griffins secured three points in a row for their largest lead of the set. Fontbonne led 23-22 after Brendon Schwartze nailed a kill, but Lakeland scored two in a row for their first lead. A Lakeland attack error tied the game but the Muskies closed out the second set 26-24. 

Trailing 14-10 in the third set, the Griffins became frustrated on the court as Lakeland scored four straight points. The Muskiese held a seven point lead late in the game but the Griffins pulled back, ultimately falling 25-20. 

In the conference loss, Rossum-O'Connell assisted 22 times while Brendon Schwartze led all hitters with 13 kills. Jacob Lendy's 13 digs was a team high as Zach Rothstein notched 11 digs. Overall, Fontbonne hit a season-low .107 against the Muskies.

Overall

Hadzisalihovic hit .458 and notched 9 total blocks over the two matches. Stephen Lendy tallied five aces as Rothstein got a hand on 62 serve receives, committing only two serve receive errors.

Fontbonne hosts Dominican Saturday morning at 9 a.m.