Falcons Break Benedictine

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW men's volleyball team celebrated senior day in style with a 3-2 victory over Benedictine. The Falcons finish the regular season with a 12-10 record and 8-4 record in the NACC. The Blue and White took their first-ever victory over Benedictine by a 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 16-25, 15-12 margin.

The Eagles took an early lead in the first set with a 6-1 lead. The Falcons did not fold and tied the set at 12 with a kill from sophomore Alex Holland (Fond du Lac, Wis.). The Blue and White used a 7-1 run to push the lead to 20-17. The Eagles tied the set at 21 on an attack error, but CUW closed the first set with a 4-1 run and bounced Benedictine with a kill from senior James Althoff (Kenosha, Wis.).

The Eagles had won 16 straight sets before the Falcons took set one.

The Falcons hit a blistering .423 in the second set. Neither team was able to build a lead bigger than three to start the second set. The bluebirds were able to get some separation with the set tied at 13 to build three-point leads at 17-14 and 19-16. A service error gave CUW the set at 25-20. James Althoff led the set with seven kills.

The Blue and White looked to bring out the brooms in the third set and took an early 12-8 lead. The Eagles wanted to extend their stay and tied the set at 12. The two teams were tied on 16 separate occasions in the third set. Benedictine broke a 22-22 tie and took the third set at 25-23. Sophomore Spencer Herman (Appleton, Wis.) secured eight kills in the set.

Benedictine controlled the fourth set from the start and forced a fifth set with a 25-16 victory.

The Black and Red built some momentum from the fourth set and took a 9-6 lead in the fifth set. The Falcons fought back and took an 11-10 lead off a pair of attack errors. A kill from Alex Holland pushed the Falcons to match point at 14-12 and a block from Spencer Herman secured the upset at 15-12.

The program celebrated the careers of James Althoff, Turner Fuhrer (Kenosha, Wis.), Ryan Hoefs (Greendale, Wis.) and Cody Sciabica (Henderson, Nev.).

Today was just one of two NACC losses for Benedictine in the last three years.

Spencer Herman led the match with 21 kills on Saturday. He also added nine digs, two service aces and a block.

James Althoff celebrated senior day with 17 kills, four blocks, five digs and a service ace.

All nine of the Falcons that saw action on Saturday landed a dig. Ryan Hoefs had nine of the 51 digs.

Junior Andy Ellingham (Burlington, Wis.) was a wall on Saturday and was a part of six of the 10 Concordia blocks.

Freshman Logan Kebisek (Brookfield, Wis.) broke the school record with 54 assists.

The Falcons look to keep the upsets coming in the NACC Tournament on Tuesday at Aurora.