SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Marian University men's volleyball (0-2, 0-0 NACC) opened its season falling to Westminster in five sets and Wittenberg in four sets.
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VS. WESTMINSTER (L, 3-2, 25-18, 25-27, 25-20, 21-25, 15-13)
- Both offenses came out firing to open the match going for a combined 29 kills in the opening set.
- With a 15-14Â lead, Westminster was able to pull away with a 5-1 run.
- The second set was a nail biter that saw Marian rally from down 18-14 to eventually tie the set at 23-23.
- The Sabres dropped their first two chances at set point, but converted the third to even the sets.
- As much as the first set was offense oriented, the third set was defense oriented with both teams finishing with a negative hitting percentage.
- The Sabres had a 10-8 lead in the set but the Blue Jays were able to go on a 13-3 run to cruise for the win.
- Marian had a slow start to the fourth trailing 9-5, but the Sabres rallied with a 12-5 run to lead 17-14.
- The Sabres would not relinquish this lead forcing a fifth set after finishing the set on a 5-2 run.
- Marian led for most of the fifth, as late as 12-11, only for Westminster to rally and take the match after scoring four of the final five points.
AT WITTENBERG (L, 3-1, 25-17, 25-13, 21-25, 25-14)
- The second match of the day saw Marian only trail 13-11 before the Tigers pulled away with a 7-3 spurt.
- The Tigers then had a 9-1 run early in the second set and a 6-2 spurt at the end to easily take a 2-0 lead.
- Marian was able to show life opening the third set with a 10-4 lead.
- The Sabres led comfortably for most of the set until Wittenberg went on a 5-1 run late to only trail two at 23-21.
- Marian was able to hold off the rally taking the next two points to force a fourth set.
- The fourth set saw Wittenberg have unanswered runs of four and five points to earn the victory.
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VS. WESTMINSTER
- Westminster had a 56-44 edge in kills, and each side finished with 40 digs.
- The Blue Jays finished with 16 total blocks to only nine for Marian.
- Each team had 31 attacking errors.
- This was just the second meeting between the two teams with each squad now having one win.
AT WITTENBERG
- Wittenberg had a 44-34 advantage in kills and 26-25 edge in digs.
- The Tigers dominated at the net finishing with nine blocks to only three for Marian.
- The service line was also kind to Wittenberg as the Tigers had a 13-6 edge in aces.
- This was the first time Wittenberg has defeated Marian in eight meetings.
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