Men's Volleyball Battles Eighth-Ranked St. Xavier in CCAC Conference Loss

CHICAGO – The Roosevelt University men's volleyball team hosted eighth-ranked and CCAC Conference leading St. Xavier University at the Goodman Center, playing the Cougars tough but falling in straight sets on Thursday, March 10.  The loss dropped the Lakers conference record to 0-9 and their overall record to 0-16 on the year.

The Lakers and Cougars traded the lead in the early going of the first set before St. Xavier broke a 10-10 tie to lead 13-10.  Roosevelt closed to within one point at 14-13 and 15-14, but the Cougars slowly pulled away to lead 23-18.  The Lakers made a late push to cut the deficit to 24-22, but an attack error by the home team gave the visitors the final set point to win 25-22.

In the second set, Roosevelt went ahead 4-2 early on with the Cougars answering with five straight points to jump ahead 7-4.  St. Xavier continued to hold a slight lead and the Lakers were down 16-14 before the Cougars gained momentum to take the set 25-18.

The third set began similarly to the second with the Lakers once again taking an early lead, this time holding a 5-3 advantage before the Cougars put together another run to go ahead 9-5.  The home team came back to tie things up at 11-11 behind two kills from Kayan Abdou and a service ace by Tony Galeana.  However, once again St. Xavier took over the set, scoring the next six points to lead 17-11 and going on to win 25-17 to win the match.

MATCH DETAILS

Score:   St. Xavier             25           25           25
                Roosevelt            22           18           17

Records: Roosevelt 0-16, 0-9 (CCAC) | St. Xavier 19-7, 9-0 (CCAC)

Location: Goodman Center | Chicago, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Kayan Abdou posted a team-high five kills
• Christopher Fermaintt tallied six digs
• Tony Galeana dished out nine assists
• Shawn McCarthy had five digs
• SXU posted a .519 hitting percentage in the third set

NEWS & NOTES

• St. Xavier came into the match ranked eighth in the latest NAIA Top 15 Poll
• The Lakers dropped the season series to the Cougars & are now 0-4 in the all-time series
• Click here to view the current CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers continue CCAC Conference competition on Tuesday, March 15 when they host Olivet Nazarene University.  Match time is set for 7pm at the Goodman Center in Chicago.