Men's Volleyball Falls Against Missouri Baptist, Rothstein Becomes All-Time Digs Leader

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team fell in straight sets against NAIA No. 4-ranked Missouri Baptist University on Wednesday night. Zach Rothstein, though collected six digs to become the all-time leader at Fontbonne in digs with 962.

Final: Missouri Baptist 3, Fontbonne 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-18)

Location: St. Louis, Mo.

Records: Missouri Baptist 3-2, Fontbonne 0-5

How It Happened

In the first set, a service error by the Spartans had Fontbonne out in front 9-8. However, the Spartans answered with a 9-4 run to take an 18-12 lead on Mario Lucas' service ace. Missouri Baptist fended off Fontbonne the rest of the way for the 25-19 win.

In the second set, a kill from Cameron Graves put the Griffins down 11-10. Missouri Baptist rattled off a 6-0 run with Luka Cajic compiling three service aces during that stretch to make it a 17-10 contest. From there, the Spartans were able to win, 25-16.

In the third, the Spartans opened with a 12-6 lead on a block assist from Drew Iliff and Miljan Kastratovic. The Griffins kept battling and responded with a 7-0 run, including getting three service aces from Ivan Rendon to give Fontbonne a 13-12 lead.

The two teams went point-for-point and eventually met-up at 16-16 on Braden Woolsey's kill. Missouri Baptist regained the lead on Cajic kill and never looked back closing out the set on an 8-2 run for the 25-18 set and match win.

Inside The Numbers

• Fontbonne finished with 22 kills and a .000 hitting percentage.
• The Spartans posted 34 kills and a .338 hitting percentage.
• Defensively, they came away with 29 digs and 12 block assists.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Braden Woolsey led Fontbonne with a team-high seven kills and .600 hitting percentage.
• Setter Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell dished out 19 assists and came away with six digs.
• Zach Rothstein went into the match needing just five digs to become the all-time leader and the senior libero ended with six on the night to give him 962 in his career.
• He surpassed Scott Ginger who held the mark with 960 digs.

Missouri Baptist Leaders

• Miljan Kastratovic led with match-high nine kills, five digs, and three block assists.
• Luka Cajic filled up the box sheet with seven kills, a .357 hitting percentage, four service aces, and four digs.
• Mario Lucas also tied Cajic with seven digs.
• Setter Jason Harman handed out 15 assists.

Up Next

The Griffins are back in action for three matches this weekend. On Saturday, they'll take on Aurora at 2 p.m., followed by Augustana at 4 p.m., with those contests being played at Aurora. On Sunday, they'll square off against No. 5-ranked Benedictine. First-service at 12 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the men's volleyball team.

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