Match 1 Box Score
Match 2 Box Score
St. Charles, Mo. – Playing their first road games of 2010, the Cardinal Stritch University Wolves men’s volleyball team got off to a good start in day one of the Lindenwood University Invitational scoring two wins on the day.
Playing in the late afternoon, the Wolves faced a tough opening opponent in Missouri Baptist University. After Stritch won the first two games by scores of 38-36 and 30-26 to take a 2-0 advantage over the Spartans, Missouri Baptist would rally to take the next two games, 30-21 and 30-17, to force a fifth game.
Riding the strong play of junior Vladimir Frenc (Belgrade, Serbia) and some timely digs by Matt Tauaese (Ponoma, Calif.) and Brendan McDevitt (Chicago, Ill.), the Wolves would capture the fifth game by a final score of 15-11 to wrap up the match at 3-2.
Frenc would lead all Stritch players in kills during the match against Missouri Baptist with 18. Senior Austin Cass (Madison, Wis.) played a strong five-game set as well, registering 17 kills on the day while Tauaese and Scott Golden (Vernon Hills, Ill.) added 10 kills apiece for the Stritch offense.
After the afternoon win, Stritch would return to the court in the early evening to take on the Warner University Royals in what would also be considered a Mid-America Men’s Volleyball Intercollegiate Conference (MAMVIC) East match.
Already 1-0 in the MAMVIC East, the Wolves would take out the Royals in three games by scores of 30-17, 30-18, and 30-24. As he had done in the first match, Frenc would hit double-digit kills again, this time putting 11 on the stat sheet in the three-game sweep.
During Stritch’s win over Warner, the team got production out of two players that weren’t a part of the lineup last season in senior Fernando Bernal (Miami, Fla.) and freshman Adam Cosson (West Allis, Wis.). Bernal, who served mainly as a reserve last season, had six kills on seven attempts while Cosson added seven kills throughout the match.
While senior setter Garrett Payne (San Diego, Calif.) was busy having his usual strong outing for the Wolves by adding 68 assists on the day, Stritch also got production out of freshman setter Alo Tauaese (Ponoma, Calif.). Tauaese, who appeared in two games, came away with 17 assists during the second match of the day.
With the wins on Friday, Stritch improves to 3-0 overall and to 2-0 in the MAMVIC East. The team will take to the court again for day two of the Lindenwood Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 30 as they’ll have an 11 a.m. rematch with the Royals. After that match, the Wolves will return to action in their final match of the day against the Park University Pirates. First serve for the match is scheduled for 1 p.m.