Griffins Unbeaten Streak Gets Snapped Against Augustana

ROCK ISLAND, Ill.—The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team saw its unbeaten streak get snapped in a five-set thriller against Augustana on Sunday afternoon.

Final: Augustana 3, Fontbonne 2 (25-23, 24-26, 16-25, 25-22, 14-16)

Location: Rock Island, Ill.

Records: Augustana 7-9 (2-0 MCVL), Fontbonne 13-1 (1-1 MCVL)

How It Happened

In the first set, after a block assist put the Vikings down 14-12, the Griffins answered with a 4-0 run as a kill from Brendon Schwartze made it an 18-12 contest. Later, the Vikings tried to get back in it as Jason Szara's kill made it 24-23, but Mark Klusman finished it off with a kill of his own for the 25-23 victory.

In the second, the two teams went back-and-forth early but it was the Vikings owning a 16-14 lead on Jason Szara's block. Fontbonne once again responded with a 4-0 run to retake the lead at 18-16.

The Griffins were still leading 24-22 on Emir Hadzisalihovic's kill, however, kills from Dylan Baum, Gary Dodovich, Caleb Minnis, and a block assist from Justin Murphy and Minnis gave the Vikings the 26-24 win.

In the third, the Vikings came out fast with an 11-3 lead on Szara's kill. With Fontbonne being limited to just eight kills in the set and Augustana countered with 16, the Vikings were able to go on for the 25-16 victory.

In the fourth, it was Augustana trying to pull away with a 20-16 lead on Sanchit Khaitan's service ace. Fontbonne, though got it down to 21-20 on a Vikings attack error. Augustana answered with a kill, but that'd be the last point of the set as Fontbonne finished it out on a 5-0 run for the 25-22 win.

In the fifth, in the race to the eighth point before switching sides, the Vikings got there first with an 8-6 lead on Dylan Baum's kill. Fontbonne went on to retake the lead at 11-10 on a block assist from Klusman and Braden Woolsey.

The team was match-point away at 14-13 on Hadzisalihovic's kill, but the Vikings closed out the set and the match on a 3-0 run for the 16-14 set and match win.

Inside The Numbers

• Fontbonne set new season-high marks in kills (55), attacks (170), assists (51), digs (68), solo blocks (seven), and total blocks (13).
• Augustana compiled 68 kills and a .203 hitting percentage. They also finished with 75 digs and 21 block assists.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Hadzisalihovic, Klusman, and Farley all totaled 12 kills. Klusman also collected 11 digs.
• Brendon Schwartze had a strong game with 10 kills and a .267 hitting percentage.
• Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell earned his third double-double with new season-high marks in assists (46) and digs (15). He's just 53 shy from becoming the all-time leader in career assists.

Augustana Leaders

• Szara led with a match-high 18 kills and a .444 hitting percentage.
• Baum and Ryan Hirschel recorded a double-double. Baum had 13 kills and 12 digs, while Hirschel added 11 and 13.
• Hirschel also led in the assist department with 31 and Matthew Schiferl finished with a match-high 20 digs.

Up Next

• The Griffins will now head to New York for three games and first-up is Hunter on Tuesday at 5 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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