OLIVET, Mich. - Today the Calvin men's volleyball team headed to Olivet to compete in a tri-tournament against Olivet and Illinois Institute of Technology. 
 
MATCH 1
CALVIN 3, OLIVET 0
 
The Knights had a great start to their day when they defeated the Comets of Olivet in three sets with scores of 25-17, 25-19, and 25-19. 
 
Calvin finished the match with a .283 hitting percentage with their best performance of .364 coming in the second set.
 
Sophomore Nick Bultje (Byron Center, Mich./South Christian) was a standout as he led the attack with eleven kills while senior Gabriel Laughlin (Grand Rapids, Mich./West Michigan Aviation Academy) was close behind with ten kills and four blocks.
 
Sophomore Jake Davidson (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) also made big contributions as he notched seven kills and four digs. Junior libero Parker Steele (Boscobel, Wis./Boscobel) led the team with eleven digs while freshman Ezekiel Jalan (Oconomowoc, Wis./Arrowhead) recorded 21 assists.
 
MATCH 2
CALVIN 3, ILLINOIS TECH 2
 
In their second match of the day the Knights showed resilience after railing from behind to win the match 3-2.
 
Led by freshman Bryce Broekhuizen (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian), who recorded three kills, Calvin claimed the first set over the Hawks with a score 25-21. However, Illinois Tech fought back as they won the next two sets 25-19 and 25-17 to take the 2-1 lead.
 
In the fourth set, freshman Troy Jones (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) and sophomore Jake Davidson (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) came alive as they both contributed two kills. Davidson also had an impressive five point run at the service line while Bultje racked up the kills as Calvin went on to win the set 25-16.
 
Heading into the tie breaker fifth set both teams battled back and forth as they seemed to match each other point for point. Halfway through the set Calvin pulled away until a service error from Illinois Tech eventually gave the Knights the 3-2 victory.
 
The Knights finished the match with a .248 hitting percentage with their best performance of .483 coming in the fourth set.
 
Bultje finished the match with a team high of seventeen kills and an impressive .583 hitting percentage. Laughlin and Jones each finished with nine kills while Steele had twelve digs. 
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "Really proud of the way the guys performed today," said head coach Spencer Fredrick. "To bounce back from a tough loss against Trine with two back-to-back wins is awesome. We limited our errors in a big way with Jake Davidson being able to shine in that second game against IIT. We practiced a lot this week on covering and defense off the block and that showed out today as well."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Friday, March 7th when they welcome Siena Heights to Van Noord Arena for a 6:30PM match.