THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — No. 6 Cal Lutheran men's volleyball went toe-to-toe with two top 10 teams on Friday afternoon and swept No. 7 St. John Fisher before falling to No. 1 Wentworth Institute of Technology.
The Kingsmen defeated the Cardinals 25-11, 25-19, and 25-18 for their 11th sweep of the year. They battled with the top team in the country but fell 21-25, 17-25, 25-17, 20-25. Two of their losses have been to Division I opponents and two more have been top 15-ranked opponents.
GAME ONE: Cal Lutheran 3, St. John Fisher 0
Jordan Cooper impressed with 12 kills and had a hitting percentage of .571. Michael Stahl added nine kills, Ben Weber had six, and Matthew Wilcox had five with a .667 clip.
Taylor Marks continued to move the ball and dished out 32 assists with seven assists. Wilcox controlled the net with five total blocks and Borys Horiuk was next with four. Logan Marks led the backline with 11 digs.
The Kingsmen opened the match on fire and took the first five points. The Kingsmen used another 5-0 run a few points later and went up 13-3 as they coasted to the first set win. With set two tied at 18, the Kingsmen scored six straight on and took a commanding 2-0 match lead. The Kingsmen continued to cruise in the third set and started the set up 11-5. They held the rest of the way and swept the Cardinals.
GAME TWO: Cal Lutheran 1, Wentworth 3
Cooper was on fire for the Kingsmen and led the way with 21 kills. Weber was next with 10 kills and Stahl added nine more. T. Marks kept the ball moving with 40 assists and Stahl had a team-high nine digs.
After the Leopards took the first two sets, the Kingsmen fired back in the third. Set three was tied 10 times before eventually being tied at 15-15. The Kingsmen went on a 6-1 run and took a commanding 21-16 lead. The Points kept coming as the Kingsmen made a 10-2 run altogether and took a set from the top team in the country. The Kingsmen continued to battle in the fourth and after being down early they fought back to make it 20-19. It was the closest the Kingsmen would get as they fell to the Leopards in four sets.
UP NEXT
The Kingsmen wrap up the Cal-Lu-Fornia Invitational on Saturday night with No. 18 Marymount at 6 pm.
