SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Today the Calvin men's volleyball team wrapped up its weekend trip to Ohio with a 3-1 victory over the Tigers of Wittenberg with scores of 25-17, 21-25, 27-25, and 29-27. With today's win the Knights improved to 10-2 overall and 4-0 in MCVL conference play.
 
In the first set, senior Gabriel Laughlin (Grand Rapids, Mich./West Michigan Aviation Academy) led the Knights with five kills while junior Daniel Rua (Medellín, Colombia/Colegio Canadiense) notched two service aces to boost Calvin to a quick 1-0 lead.
 
The Tigers bounced back in the second set as they defeated the Knights and tied the match at 1-1. The third set proved to be a doozy as both teams battled for momentum. Wittenberg had the early advantage as it started the game on a 5-0 run before timely kills from Brady Gudauskas (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Nick Bultje (Byron Center, Mich./South Christian) cut the lead down to just one. From that point forward, there were three lead changes and six ties before the Knights edged out the Tigers to take the set and claim a 2-1 lead.
 
In the fourth set, the Knights once again found themselves working from behind as Wittenberg took an early 7-3. Kills from Laughlin, Rua, and Justus Barbel (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) gave Calvin a boost as they tried to work their way back into the mix. Calvin continued to trail by a few points for most of the set before taking their first lead thanks to a kill from Laughlin to make the score 25-24. Needing to win by two, the Knights dug deep and battled down the stretch to pick up the 29-27 victory to win the match.
 
The Knights finished the match with a .321 hitting percentage with their best performance of .361 coming in the fourth set. Rua led the way for the Knights with fourteen kills while Laughlin and Gudauskas each finished the day with ten kills apiece. Freshman libero Brantley Tiede (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) recorded fourteen digs while sophomore setter Ezekiel Jalan (Oconomowoc, Wis./Arrowhead) had thirty-nine assists.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "I'm so proud of our team - the guys on the floor and our bench," said head coach Aaron Sagraves. "Each guy played a role today to help us beat a really good team on their home floor. Even when we faced a big deficit at the end of the 4th - we stayed focused on one point at a time and lifted up our brothers! Staying in the moment was huge for us and I am excited to see how we carry this into next week!"
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Tuesday, February 24th when they welcome Trinity Christian College to campus for a 6 PM matchup.