RIVER FOREST, Ill. – Marian University men’s volleyball (11-6, 4-2 NACC) battled back from down 2-0 to defeat Concordia Chicago 21-25, 24-26, 25-15, 25-22, and 15-12.
- Marian jumped out to a slim 5-1 lead but the opening set was tight from there.
- The Sabres had a 19-17 advantage before Concordia Chicago went on an 8-2 run to finish the set.
- The Cougars continued to use their momentum opening the second with a 9-4 advantage.
- Marian battled back to tie the set at 10-10, but CUC was able to go on a 6-1 run to pull ahead again.
- The Sabres once again chipped away to tie the set at 23-23.
- Concordia Chicago once again had an answer scoring three of the next four points to go ahead 2-0.
- The third set opened with a 12-12 draw when Marian was able to finally break through and change the momentum for the match.
- The Sabres were able to close out the set on a 13-3 spurt to force a fourth set.
- Neither team led by more than four points in the fourth set with CUC holding a slim 13-12 lead to open.
- Marian then scored four unanswered points to take the lead for good and force a fifth set.
- The Cougars once again had a small lead to open the set at 7-6 but Marian responded with 6-2 run to go ahead 12-9.
- The Sabre lead was trimmed to one at 12-11 before a pair of kills from junior Derek Wills and a kill from fellow junior Aaron Velasco completed the reverse sweep.
- Marian had a 60-47 edge in kills and hit .229 for the match.
- The Sabre defense had a season-high 77 digs and held Concordia Chicago to a .086 hitting percentage.
- Marian tied a season-high with 13 blocks, it was also the third-straight performance with double-digit blocks.
- Marian improved to 5-1 in the all-time series against Concordia Chicago with the win.
