Men's Volleyball Opens MCVL Play With Win Over Lions

CINCINATTI, Ohio.—It was the start of MCVL play tonight for the Fontbonne University men's volleyball team and they started off on the right foot with a five-set win over Mount St. Joseph.

Result

Fontbonne def. MSJ, 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 15-13)

Set Notes

Set 1: The Griffins held an 18-16 lead after a solo block from Ryan Lively. After a time out, the two teams went point-for-point until the Lions closed out the set on a 3-0 run for the 25-22 win.

Fontbonne had 11 kills in the first and a .115 hitting percentage. Lively led with three kills, while Logan Irby, Lee Kreutzman and Josh Blomberg had two kills each.

Set 2: In the second, the Griffins remained in control holding a 16-12 lead on Irby's kill. Fontbonne never relinquished its lead the rest of the way going on for the 25-21 victory.

It was a strong bounce back set for the Griffins with 17 kills and a .343 hitting percentage. Lively was rolling with seven kills on 10 swings giving him 10 through two sets.

Set 3: The Griffins put the Lions in a 12-5 hole on Lively's kill. They maintained its lead up until MSJ met up with them at 24-24. An attack error and a kill from Blomberg gave Fontbonne the 26-24 win.

Fontbonne had another strong offensive set with 14 kills and a .306 hitting percentage. Cameron Graves stood out with five kills on 10 swings.

Set 4: The Lions this time around grabbed the early lead and stretched it out to 18-13. Fontbonne tried to make a comeback trailing 24-22 on Irby's kill, however, the Lions forced a fifth and final set after getting a kill from Ryan Bollhauer for the win.

Set 5: In the race to eight, the Griffins got there first after an MSJ service error. The two teams were all tied 11-11, but a kill from Graves and a solo block from Lee Kreutzman gave Fontbonne a 13-11 lead. From there, the Griffins fended off MSJ for the 15-13 set and match win on Irby's kill.

Game Notes

• Fontbonne tied its season-high with 63 kills and set a new season-high with a .258 hitting percentage.
• MSJ ended with 66 kills and a .252 hitting percentage.

Top Griffins

Ryan Lively: 16 kills, .244 hitting percentage, 14 digs

Cameron Graves: 15 kills, .265 hitting percentage

Josh Blomberg: Season-high 12 kills, .409 hitting percentage

Logan Irby: Career-high 11 kills, .562 hitting percentage

Alex Gantt: Career-high 57 assists

Ryan Taylor: 9 digs

Up Next

The Griffins are back in action tomorrow afternoon taking on Wittenberg. First-service at 12 p.m.

Make sure to follow the men's volleyball team on all its social media accounts: Twitter(@FBUGriffinsMVB), Instagram (@fontbonnemvb) and Facebook (/FontbonneUGriffins).