Match 1 Box Score
Match 2 Box Score
Dubuque, Iowa - The Cardinal Stritch University Wolves men's volleyball team defeated Clarke College on Saturday in the semi-final match by the scores of 30-22, 30-23, 30-20. The win gave the Wolves a chance to play in the conference championship match, where they lost to St. Ambrose in four games by the scores of 30-24, 30-25, 28-30, 30-23.
In the first match of the day against Clarke College, the Wolves dominated each set by getting out to an early lead and executing the offensive and defensive schemes. Matt Tauaese (Ponoma, Calif.) played a huge part in the Wolves' offensive success by leading the team in kills with 14 and only four hitting errors on 23 attempts. Right behind Tauaese was the solid Vladimir Frenc (Belgrade, Serbia) who finished the match with 13 kills on 28 attempts. Brendan McDevitt (Chicago, Ill.) did what he does best and picked up ten digs to lead the team. Also helping out the defense was Fernando Bernal (Miami, Fla.) who led the team in blocks with five. It was the incredible team effort that allowed Stritch to win in dominating fashion.
The championship match was not as kind to the Wolves as was the semi-final match. The St. Ambrose University Fighting Bees came ready to play, and were looking to make up for the match they lost the last time they played the Wolves. Stritch made it easier for St. Ambrose by committing 38 attack errors and 17 service errors. The Wolves committed just 13 attack errors in the previous match against Clarke College. Another problem the Wolves seemed to have was stopping the attackers on St. Ambrose. In four sets, the Wolves had only three total team blocks, whereas against Clarke College they recored eight and a half blocks.
Vladimir Frenc led the Wolves in kills with 19, followed by Austin Cass (Madison, Wis.) with 16 kills. Brendan McDevitt was able to pick up 17 digs, but his efforts were not enough to keep the Fighting Bees from scoring. Although the first three sets were relatively close on the scoreboard, it would only be the third set in which the Wolves would walk away with a victory.
Any hope the Wolves had of a comeback disappeared in the fourth set as they went down early by the score of 5-15. The Fighting Bees closed out the fourth set to take the conference final match win.
The Wolves will now await word of a potential bid to the NAIA National Tournament, which will be played on April 22 in Davenport, Iowa. Should the Wolves be selected, they will enter pool play with a 25-11 record.