Stephen Lendy's performance helped elevate Fontbonne over Olivet 3-2

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University men's volleyball finished their final home game of 2017 with a five-set victory over Olivet College. The Griffins are now 11-11 overall and 6-10 in conference. Fontbonne is 4-1 this season in five-set matches, winning their last three in a row.

Defense was key on both sides of the net tonight with 26 blocks and 125 digs. Freshman Zach Rothstein played his best all season, despite not feeling the greatest. The libero recorded a career-high 20 digs while also recording zero errors on 42 serve receive attempts.

Stephen Lendy and Brendon Schwartze were heavy hitters for the Griffins, both hitting out of the outside slot and in the back row. Lendy's 17 kills was the team's high was Schwartze finished the game with 15 kills. Lendy served up nine aces including three in the fourth set where he completed nine serves in a row and was second on the team with 13 digs.

Freshman Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell's 11 digs was yet another double-digit statistic for the Griffins. He also recorded 42 assists in the game. Emir Hadzisalihovic led Fontbonne with eight block assists out of the middle.

Olivet took the first set 29-27 before the Griffins tallied to take set two. Tied 20-20, Fontbonne closed out the set with five straight points including two aces by Lendy. Tied 23-23 in set three, Olivet took a 2-1 lead by scoring the final two points.

The Griffins dominated the fourth set. Hadzisalihovic starting serving with the Griffins ahead 10-7 and finished leading 14-8. After a couple of back and forth points, Lendy started serving again. He delivered three aces on nine serves as the Griffins scored 10 points in a row. A service error by each team finished the set 25-11 in Fontbonne's favor. In the set, Lendy went five-for-10 at the net while Schwartze recorded five digs.

Fontbonne trailed 7-8 as the two teams switched sides in the fifth set, but the Griffins tallied seven points in a row to lead 14-8. Olivet crawled back but Fontbonne finished the game 15-11.

Fontbonne is on the road to finish out their season. First up is North Central College next weekend where they will also square off against Illinois Tech.