Box Score
Davenport, Iowa - The Cardinal Stritch University Wolves men’s volleyball team fell in the semi finals to the California Baptist University Lancers in four sets by the scores of 22-30, 17-30, 30-27, 26-30. The loss for the Wolves ended their pursuit to play for the national championship game on Saturday, and their 2010 season.
The Wolves were unable to find their rhythm in the first two sets against the talented Lancers.
California Baptist’s powerful jump serving accumulated numerous points on service aces, and prevented the Wolves from making accurate passes to the setter Garrett Payne (San Diego, Calif.). Without any offense to respond to the attack of the Lancers, the Wolves found themselves with a large deficit to overcome and very little time to do so. The overall number one team in the nation did what they have done all year and capitalized on their lead to finish the first and second sets by the scores of 22-30 and 17-30.
The third set was a complete turnaround for the Wolves as they went toe-to-toe with the mighty Lancers. Vladimir Frenc (Belgrade, Serbia) showed everyone why he was the player of the year by recording six kills in the set. George Ghassan (Naperville, Ill.) provided the Wolves with a lift by scoring five points with his fundamentally sound float serve.
The Lancers, who are used to passing hard hit jump serves, were unable to find a way to pass what Ghassan was giving them . On the flip side, the Wolves were finally able to generate some good passing that led to an effective offense. The score remained close until the Wolves went on a three point run to pull away by three points. From this point forward, Frenc and the Wolves did their best to maintain the lead. An unforced error by the Lancers on set point gave the Wolves a set three win by the score of 30-27.
In the fourth set, a 6-6 tie would be the closest the Wolves would remain within reach for the match. After going up 8-6, the Lancers kept the pressure on the Wolves by executing their offense, and not allowing Stritch to have any easy offensive opportunities. The Wolves simply were unable to overcome the size and strength of California Baptist and dropped the last set by the score of 26-30.
The Wolves close out the season at 26-13.