Marian University men’s volleyball (1-0, 0-0 NACC) opened the 2020 campaign with a sweep of Maranatha Baptist with set scores of 25-12, 25-15, and 25-14.
The Sabre offense had a strong match from beginning to start in the victory. In the opener, Marian took a 10-7 lead to open but went on a strong 15-5 run to close out the set. The second set was similar as the Sabercats were able to open with a 6-5 lead before a late 9-3 run gave Marian a 2-0 advantage.
Marian put the match away in the final set hitting .414 with 12 kills and zero errors. Marian opened the set with a 9-7 advantage and extended on their lead with a 7-2 run to go ahead 16-8 and force an MBU timeout. The Sabres then cruised to the sweep closing the match with a 5-1 stretch.
The Sabre defense, not to be out shadowed by the offense, had a strong match holding Marantha Baptist to a .022 hitting percentage with three blocks.
The offense was spread out in the win with five Sabres recording at least four kills. Senior Jacob DeGroot paced the offense with a match-high eight kills off of a .500 hitting percentage. In the back row, sophomore Blake Badtke had a team-high 10 digs to go with seven kills. Sophomore Zach Zelenik earned an assist on 26 of the 33 Marian kills.
Marian travels to No. 5 Carthage for a 1 p.m. first serve tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 18.
–FightBlueFight—
