Box Score
Milwaukee, Wis. - The Cardinal Stritch University Wolves men's volleyball team put on a show for the fans at the Cardinal Stritch University Field House on Thursday night, coming away with a 3-1 victory over the Fighting Bees of St. Ambrose.
The Wolves came out firing in the first game with an array of hard jump serves and powerful attacks on offense. Vladimir Frenc (Belgrade, Serbia) and Austin Cass (Madison, Wis.) provided offensive outlets from both the front and back row, while Fernando Bernal (Miami, Fla.) and Scott Golden (Vernon Hills, Ill.) kept the middle blockers of St. Ambrose on their toes. Stritch led most of the game by two and three points, but could never pull away due to the Fighting Bees’ stellar blocking defense. St. Ambrose fought their way back to tie the game at 26-26, but would end up scoring only one more point as the Wolves came away with a 30-27 victory.
In the second set the Wolves came out with the same intensity as the first, knowing that St. Ambrose would have plenty of fight left. This highly entertaining game consisted of numerous volleys and all out hustle plays by both teams. Chris Arquilla (Willow Springs, Ill.) did what he does best and picked up the majority of the Fighting Bees' tips, landing them with pinpoint precision to Garrett Payne's (San Diego, Cal.) hands. From there Payne and his offense took care of the rest, giving St. Ambrose all they could handle. With the Wolves in the lead, 18-14, and pushing hard to finish, St. Ambrose started making mental errors with the frustration setting in. The 18-14 advantage quickly grew to 21-15, sparked by a huge solo block by Bernal following a Stritch overpass, while Frenc capitalized on the Bees' mistakes. It was only fitting that St. Ambrose would lose game point by way of an unforced error, giving Stritch the 30-21 win.
The Wolves started Game three without the sense of urgency that was displayed in the first two sets, while St. Ambrose gathered themselves during the 10 minute intermission. The Wolves faced a large deficit early because of their inability to score a sideout. With a 2-9 deficit staring Stritch in the face, Frenc and Golden helped narrow the score with their offensive fire power, eventually pulling the Wolves within five points at 15-20. However, untimely service errors by Cass and Matt Tauaese (Ponoma, Cal.) kept the Wolves from making a much needed run of points. As St. Ambrose picked up the momentum, their serves quickly became pin point accurate, resulting in an inconsistent passing game that prevented the Wolves' offense from getting the team back in the game. The Bees' continued their dominance throughout the entire game and clinched their first victory of the match by the score of 21-30.
At the start of set four, Bernal and Golden continued to perform in the middle with a kill apiece, giving the Wolves an early 2-1 lead. At 4-4 a miscommunication between Payne and Golden nearly led to a costly error, but Arquilla picked up the lost set and placed the ball nicely on the Bees' court for a point. The Wolves were unable to hold this momentum, however, due to the strong blocking on the right side of the Bees' net. St. Ambrose was not going to let Frenc get any easy looks for kills, and their tough defense led Stritch to take a timeout after going down 8-11. After a back and forth affair of hard hit balls and solid blocking by both teams, the Stritch defense ended up on top, giving the Wolves a spectacular finish in one of the hardest fought matches of the year. Game four concluded with the score of 30-27, and a 3-1 match win over St. Ambrose.