Griffins Find Success On Both Sides Of The Net In Sweep Against Olivet

OLIVET, Mich.—The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team owned a hitting percentage over .300 for the second straight game and accounted for 11 blocks in a sweep over Olivet on Saturday.

The Griffins (2-0), finished with 41 kills, a .301 hitting percentage, 38 assists, 33 digs and 18 block assists in the victory.

Emir Hadzisalihovic, Mark Klusman and Brendon Schwartze tied for the team-high with eight kills each. Hadzisalihovic led with his team-high .438 hitting percentage, while Klusman tied Tony Pitaro with five block assists each.

TJ Vorva and Stephen Lendy, meanwhile, contributed to the success as well on the offensive side of the net with seven kills. Jacob Lendy led them at the setter position with 19 assists, and tied Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell, Sebastian Roca and Schwartze with five digs apiece.

Coming into today's outing, Olivet, was unbeaten, had only dropped two sets thus far and its lowest hitting percentage was .216 against Greenville. Today, the Comets were held to a .148 hitting percentage and committed seven service errors.

Karl Deichmann led with his match-high 12 kills. Aaron Giorgi handed out a match-high 35 assists, while Tanner Gardenour also had a match-high 16 digs.

In the first set, Olivet opened with a 10-7 lead on Deichmann's kill. However, the Griffins rattled off a 5-1 run, capped off by Jacob Lendy's service ace to make it 12-11. The two teams went point-for-point the rest of the way as Vorva's kill tied it at 20-20.

Then, the Comets went on a 3-0 run to take a 23-20 advantage on a block assist from Trent Robinson and Aaron Giorgi. However, two attack errors and a kill from Schwartze tied the set at 23-23, and that forced Olivet to take a timeout.

It didn't slow down Fontbonne as they finished off its 5-0 run with a ball handling error and a block from Hadzisalihovic to give them the 25-23 opening win.

The tables flipped in the second with the Griffins taking a 10-7 lead on Vorva's kill. They stretched it out to 17-11 on a block assist from Pitaro and Klusman. Olivet tried to get back in it late in the set at 23-20, but an attack error and Klusman's kill gave them a 25-21 win to take a two sets to none lead.

In the third, the Griffins saved its best set for last statistically. The team set match-highs in kills (16) and hitting percentage (.419). A kill from Hadzisalihovic put the visitor's ahead 11-9. Fontbonne continued rolling from there, gaining some breathing room at 17-10 after a Comets attack error.

The Comets tried a late rally in hopes of forcing a fourth set after going on a 4-0 run to make it 23-20. However, the Griffins put Olivet away on kills from Hadzisalihovic and Schwartze to make it a 25-21 final.

The Griffins return to the court next Friday when they'll take on Maranatha Baptist at 5 p.m., at Concordia-Wisconsin. At 7 p.m., Fontbonne takes on host Concordia-Wisconsin.

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