Men's Volleyball Earns First Win Over Rockford, Rothstein Eclipses 1,000 Career Digs

GREENVILLE, Ill.— The Fontbonne University men's volleyball team earned a split on Friday at the Greenville Invite where the team fell in straight sets against Concordia Chicago, but closed out the day with a straight set win over Rockford. Zach Rothstein also became the first player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career digs.

Game 1

Final: Concordia Chicago 3, Fontbonne 0 (28-26, 25-13, 25-18)

Location: Greenville, Ill.

Records: Concordia Chicago 3-2, Fontbonne 0-9

How It Happened

In the first set, the Griffins trailed 12-9 on a Grant Garza kill. From there, the Cougars led 16-13 but a 3-0 run by Fontbonne evened it up at 16-16.

The two teams went point-for-point until the Cougars tried to pull away with a 22-19 lead on Luke Vozenilek's kill. Fontbonne answered right back with another 3-0 run as consecutive block assists from Jacob Hartmann and Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell evened up the scoreboard, 22-22.

Later, a service error from the Cougars put Fontbonne back even with them, 26-26. However, Concordia Chicago finished off the set on back-to-back kills from Luke Vozenilek for the 28-26 win.

In the second set, the Cougars led early 12-8 but a 3-0 rally from Fontbonne put the deficit down to one. From there, though the Cougars outscored Fontbonne 13-5, including registering the final 10 points for the 25-13 victory.

In the third, a kill from Cameron Graves had the Griffins ahead, 8-7. A 6-0 run from Concordia Chicago gave them the lead back at 13-8. Fontbonne tried to get back into the match as a Cougars attack error had them down 21-18. Concordia Chicago was able to finish off the set and the match on a 4-0 run for the win.   

Inside The Numbers

• The Griffins finished with 29 kills and 23 errors for a .055 hitting percentage.
• The team totaled 11 block assists at the net.
• The Cougars ended with 37 kills and a .211 hitting percentage.
• Defensively, they came away with 54 digs, five solo blocks, and six block assists.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Cameron Graves totaled a team-high eight kills, while Braden Woolsey added seven and a team-high .143 hitting percentage.
• Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell dished out 27 assists, to go along with his six digs and team-high three block assists.
• Defensively, Zach Rothstein earned eight digs to surpass the 1,000 collegiate dig mark. He becomes the first Fontbonne player in program history to eclipse 1,000 digs.

Concordia Chicago Leaders

• Vozenilek was the story for the Cougars as he totaled a match-high 19 kills and a .368 hitting percentage.
• Trent Weber added 30 assists and Brandon Stirn collected a match-high 14 digs.

Game Two

Final: Fontbonne 3, Rockford 0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-14)

Location: Greenville, Ill.

Records: Fontbonne 1-9, Rockford 0-3

How It Happened

In the first set, the Griffins owned a 12-6 lead on Sebastian Roca's service ace. The team expanded the advantage out to 21-8 on a block assist from Braden Woolsey and Kyler van Rossum-O'Connnell. Fontbonne was able to finish off the set from there for the 25-12 win.

In the second set, the Griffins fast start continued with a 13-3 lead on Rockford's attack error. The Griffins never looked back from there en route to the 25-12 dominating victory.

In the third, the Regents trimmed its deficit down to 12-9 on Matthew Seger's kill. Fontbonne responded with a 4-0 run highlighted by three straight kills from Graves, Woolsey, and Graza.

With Fontbonne totaling a match-high 14 kills and .333 hitting percentage in the third, the team cruised to the 25-14 set and match win.

Inside The Numbers

• Fontbonne posted 34 kills and set a new season-high with a .300 hitting percentage.
• Defensively, they totaled 43 digs and 16 block assists.
• Rockford struggled to get its offense going with 12 kills and 19 errors for a negative -.090 hitting percentage.

Rockford Leaders

• Randall Simental led with five kills.
• Jorge Pando added 10 assists and Franklin McDaniel contributed 10 digs.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Graves led with a match-high 11 kills and .385 hitting percentage.
• Garza totaled six kills, while Woolsey and Lee Kruetzmann finished with five each.
• Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell filled up his box line once more with 29 assists, nine digs, and three block assists.
• Rothstein ended his day with a match-high 14 digs.

Up Next

The Griffins will have a week off before squaring off on the road against No. 14-ranked Dominican on February 7^th. First-service at 7 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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