RIVER FOREST, Ill. - Marian University men's volleyball (11-6, 4-2 NACC) battled back from down 2-0 to defeat Concordia Chicago 21-25, 24-26, 25-15, 25-22, and 15-12.

 

• Marian jumped out to a slim 5-1 lead but the opening set was tight from there.
• The Sabres had a 19-17 advantage before Concordia Chicago went on an 8-2 run to finish the set.
• The Cougars continued to use their momentum opening the second with a 9-4 advantage.
• Marian battled back to tie the set at 10-10, but CUC was able to go on a 6-1 run to pull ahead again.
• The Sabres once again chipped away to tie the set at 23-23.
• Concordia Chicago once again had an answer scoring three of the next four points to go ahead 2-0.
• The third set opened with a 12-12 draw when Marian was able to finally break through and change the momentum for the match.
• The Sabres were able to close out the set on a 13-3 spurt to force a fourth set.
• Neither team led by more than four points in the fourth set with CUC holding a slim 13-12 lead to open.
• Marian then scored four unanswered points to take the lead for good and force a fifth set.
• The Cougars once again had a small lead to open the set at 7-6 but Marian responded with 6-2 run to go ahead 12-9.
• The Sabre lead was trimmed to one at 12-11 before a pair of kills from junior Derek Wills and a kill from fellow junior Aaron Velasco completed the reverse sweep.

 

• Marian had a 60-47 edge in kills and hit .229 for the match.
• The Sabre defense had a season-high 77 digs and held Concordia Chicago to a .086 hitting percentage.
• Marian tied a season-high with 13 blocks, it was also the third-straight performance with double-digit blocks.
• Marian improved to 5-1 in the all-time series against Concordia Chicago with the win.

   

Junior Derek Wills had a second straight double-double with 18 kills and 16 digs.  He also had four assisted blocks.	Senior Cam Muller also posted a double-double recording 14 kills to go with 12 digs.	Senior Carzell Combs came off the bench to post a match-high 18 digs.