CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Siena Heights men's volleyball team defeated Saint Xavier (Ill.), 4-1, in non-conference action to open the 2017 season, on Friday. Set scores were 25-14, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-22.
Leading the Saints (1-0) with 14 kills was Matthew Dugan, also adding four block assists and seven digs. John Kalugar earned 13 kills for SHU with nine digs.
Keegan Crawford had 38 assists for Siena Heights while adding nine digs and one service ace. Emilier DeJesus finished the match with 21 digs and four assists.
For the Cougars (1-1), Sean Barry made 17 kills and added 11 digs. Aaron Kummer finished with 36 assists and 11 digs.
SET-BY-SET
Set One: Siena Heights 25, Saint Xavier 14
The match started off even between the Saints and the Cougars, at 4-5 until SHU went on a 4-0 run to go up 8-5. Two aces by DeJesus in a 6-0 run by the Saints went up, 18-11 and didn't look back.
Set Two: Saint Xavier 25, Siena Heights 23
A close set between both teams with the biggest lead belonging to the Cougars at 9-4. SHU tied it at 12-12 and at 20-20. SXU went up by two points and the Saints were unable to rally back for the win.
Set Three: Siena Heights 25, Saint Xavier 17
Another close set between SHU and the Cougars, the score tied at 6-6 until Siena Heights took a two point lead and gradually gained momentum to win it 25-18.
Set Four: Siena Heights 25, Saint Xavier 22
SHU took the early lead before the Cougars slowly climbed into the lead 11-7. Siena Heights tied it at 13-13 and again 20-20 before taking the eventual lead at 23-22 for the match win.
Next up, the Saints will play Calumet Saint Joseph (Ill.) at 1 p.m. CST (2 p.m. EST) on Saturday in a non-conference contest.