LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Today the Calvin men's volleyball team capped off its weekend road trip in style when it defeated the Golden Eagles of Spalding 3-1 with scores of 25-22, 25-15, 22-25, and 25-17. With today's win the Knights improved to 19-3 overall and 7-1 in MCVL play.
 
The Knights took control of the first set early on as junior Daniel Rua (Medellín, Colombia/Colegio Canadiense) led the attack with four kills. Junior Nick Bultje (Byron Center, Mich./South Christian) chipped in three kills and one service ace while fellow junior Justus Barbel (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) notched two kills and two service aces.
 
Calvin kept things rolling as Barbel continued to add to his totals and senior Gabriel Laughlin (Grand Rapids, Mich./West Michigan Aviation Academy) and junior Brady Gudauskas (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) came alive and contributed some timely kills. After taking a 2-0 lead, the Knights wobbled a bit when they dropped the third set to the Golden Eagles.
 
However, Calvin did not back down as it finished what it started and won the fourth set to claim the 3-1 victory. The Knights finished the match with an impressive .376 hitting percentage with their best performance of .348 coming in the first set.
 
Laughlin finished with a team high fifteen kills while Barbel was close behind with ten kills and four service aces. Bultje chipped in seven kills while Gudauskas finished with six kills. Freshman libero Brantley Tiede (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) had a team high ten digs and sophomore setter Ezekiel Jalan (Oconomowoc, Wis./Arrowhead) finished the match with thirty-seven assists.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "Today was a battle," said head coach Aaron Sagraves. "Physically and mentally we had to fight to pull this one out and credit goes to Spalding for giving us everything they had. We had some big moments down the stretch by certain guys that helped us come away with another road victory. We know what is in front of us but we need to come in next week and get better after a great weekend."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Wednesday, April 1st when they travel to Trine for their final regular season match at 6:30 PM with a share of the league title on the line.