DUBUQUE, Iowa — The Cal Lutheran men's volleyball team made history by winning their first NCAA Championship game defeating Dominican University 3-1 on Friday night.
"I'm very excited for the program," Head Coach Kevin Judd said. "In our first NCAA appearance, we were able to get our first tournament win. I'm proud of all 17 of our Kingsmen, for all their hard work and sacrifice. The job's not finished."
The Kingsmen improved with a record of 23-5 and advanced to the second round, the Elite Eight, to take on the host, Loras, at 6 pm CT/4 pm PT.
Jordan Cooper led the way with 16 kills, Michael Stahl added 11, and Ben Weber and Borys Horiuk both had nine. Taylor Marks showed off an all-around game with 46 assists, six kills, and six digs. Cooper served five aces, Stahl added three more, and Horiuk had four total blocks. The Kingsmen controlled the game and hit with a .356 attack percentage with Dominican only hitting .188.
The Kingsmen kicked off the first set, and their NCAA Championship run, with an 8-3 run. Cooper tallied three early kills and back-to-back-to-back aces. The Stars weathered the storm at tied the opening set at 11-11. The set was tied eight more times until 20-20. The Stars rebounded from their rough start, going up 22-20, and then took the first set 25-21.
The Kingsmen took another lead to open set two. They were up 5-1 and then 8-5. The Stars bounced back again and the set was tied at 8-8. The Kingsmen built a lead once more, going up 12-9, after kills from Horiuk, Weber, and Marks. They continued to grow their, 17-12, as the Stars took a timeout. The Kingsmen cruised the rest of the way, took the second set 25-18, and tied the match at 1-1.
The Kingsmen came out on fire in the third set and were up 5-0 before the Stars called a timeout. They continued to roll and were up 10-3 after a Horiuk kill. The lead bloomed even bigger, 14-6, after an error from the Stars. The Kingsmen never looked back, taking the third set 25-17, and went up 2-1.
The fourth set went back and forth until the Kingsmen took an 11-8 lead, forcing Dominican to call a timeout. The Stars used their second timeout as the Kingsmen went up 15-10 after a kill from Horuik and an ace from Stahl. The Kingsmen took the fourth set 25-20, won the match 3-1, and made program history.
The Kingsmen look to make more history tomorrow as they continue the NCAA Championship with Loras.
