Falcons Fall to Top Teams

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW men's volleyball team finished their run in the 2023 CUW Invitational with matchups against the Mount Union Purple Raiders and the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.

The Falcons started with a matchup against the Purple Raiders which saw a 3-2 final score in favor of the Purple Raiders.

The First set went the way of the Purple Raiders with a set score of 25-23. The set was back and forth the entire way, but Mount Union came out ahead in the end.

Set two was another Purple Raider victory by a final score of 25-19. Mount Union saw two three-point runs and a four-point run to open up the set. The Falcons fought back with a 5-2 run to end the set.

The Blue and White began set three on an 8-3 run which saw junior Spencer Herman (Kimberly, Wis.) go on a five-point service run and included five Falcon kills. The flock broke out to their biggest lead of the set at 13-7 after a big block from sophomore Lucas Beres (Germantown, Wis.) and freshman Tate Miller (Anthem, Ariz.). A pair of kills from Miller and freshman Ben Kayser (Milwaukee, Wis.) matched the biggest Falcon lead of the set at 18-12. The third set finished with a final score of 25-18 in favor of the Falcons after a Kayser kill.

The fourth set saw the Purple Raiders jump out to a 10-6 lead which was capped by a Herman kill. 

The Falcons proceeded to go on a 9-4 run to take the 16-14 lead looking to push it to a fifth set. The Falcons finished the set off with a final score of 25-23 and forced a winner take it all fifth set.

Both teams battled back and forth down the stretch of the fifth set. The Purple Raiders broke off for a five-point run to push the final frame to 9-7. The Falcons fell just short of a reverse sweep in the final set by a score of 10-15.

The Falcons switched for their matchup with the No. 10 UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.

The Banana Slugs claimed the first set by a score of 25-17.

The Blue and White battled through the second set but fell by a score of 28-26.

With their back against the wall, the flock claimed their first set victory of the match with a 26-24 final score.

The Banana Slugs played spoiler to the Falcon's comeback hopes with a 25-20 victory in set four.

 Herman led the flock with 32 total kills on the afternoon's two matchups.

Sophomore Logan Kebisek (Brookfield, Wis.) claimed 84 assists and added two kills and 22 digs.

The Falcons take on another top opponent in the nation when No. 6 North Central comes to town on Wednesday.