GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University men's volleyball team recorded a 2-0 day at the Calvin Invite at Van Noord arena with 3-0 wins over Franklin College and St. Norbert College on Friday.
Calvin (7-2) won the opener against Franklin (0-4) by the scores of 26-24, 26-24 and 25-14 in the afternoon and then defeated St. Norbert (3-5) by the scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-15 in the final match of the day.
Match 1
Calvin opened the day with a 3-0 sweep of Franklin College by the scores of 26-24, 26-24 and 25-14.
The first set went back and forth with nine ties and four lead changes but a late run helped the Knights gain control of the set and kills from
Gavin Barber (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) and
Brady Gudauskas (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) clinched the final two points.
Bryce Broekhuizen (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian) led Calvin with five kills in the set.
The second set was more of the same as the teams traded points until the end. Franklin saved one set point to tie the set 24-24, but Broekhuizen and Gudauskas ended the set with kills to put the Knights on top 2-0 in the match. Gudauskas and Broekhuizen came up big with a combined 12 kills in the set.
The Knights took control of the third set early as
Nick Bultje (Byron Center, Mich./South Christian) served five straight points to put Calvin ahead 10-6 and the Knights never looked back as
Justus Barbel (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) recorded six kills to lead an attack that hit .323 for the set to secure the win.
Broekhuizen led the Knights with 13 kills to go with five digs. Gudauskas added 10 total kills and five blocks.
Ezekiel Jalan (Oconomowoc, Wis./Arrowhead) finished with 35 assists, while Barbel recorded nine kills and three blocks.
Match 2
The Knights continued the momentum from that first match into the night contest against St. Norbert with a sweep by the scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-15.
Calvin hit a blistering .550 on the attack in the opening set on the way to taking a 1-0 lead. Gudauskas,
Gabriel Laughlin (Grand Rapids, Mich./West Michigan Aviation Academy), Bultje and
Daniel Rua (Medellin, Colombia/Colegio Canadiense) each recorded three kills in the set and Jalan had 11 assists.
The second set was close throughout and the teams were tied 21-21 before the Knights scored the final four points, including the final two on kills from Rua to go ahead 2-0 in the match. Gudauskas and Rua each recorded four kills in the set to lead the attack.
The Knights led the third set from start to finish with the help of six blocks, including three apiece from Bultje and Laughlin to finish off the sweep.
Rua led the Knights with 10 kills in the match. Bultje added eight kills and five blocks while Gudauskas finished with seven kills. Laughlin and Barbel each recorded six kills, with Barbel also finishing with five blocks. Jalan finished the match with 33 assists.
COACH'S COMMENT: "That's a really quality win for our program," Cavin head coach
Aaron Sagraves said. "Our guys came in focused and took care of what we can control and played a solid three-set match. Defensively we were really solid early and then our offense got rolling and that is fun to watch. Especially when we can spread the ball around the way we did. Five guys had at least six kills and that's fun to see. We need to finish this tournament strong tomorrow."
NEXT UP: Calvin returns to action tomorrow (Saturday, February 14) when it hosts Rockford University to close the Calvin Invite in the Hoogenboom Gymnasium at 5:30 PM.
