ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights men's volleyball team picked two more wins on the final day of the Siena Heights men's volleyball tournament on Saturday. The Saints swept both Goshen and Morningside (Iowa) to finish 3-1 on the tournament. Emilier De Jesus led the Saints to the 2-0 finish with 34 digs and six service aces on the day.
THE BASICS
Final Scores: Game 1: Siena Heights 3, Goshen 0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-14) | Game 2: Siena Heights 3, Morningside (Iowa) 0 (26-24, 30-28, 26-24)
Location: Adrian, Michigan (SHU Fieldhouse)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1: Siena Heights def. Goshen, 3-0
The Saints used a 5-0 run coming out of a timeout with the score tied at six to take an 11-6 lead. A 4-0 run later in the set would give the Saints a 20-13 lead before they closed out the game and took a 1-0 lead.
Siena built an 8-6 lead before a 4-0 run extended it to six points. Another 4-0 run put the advantage to nine points, 21-12 before the Saint jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the set score.
The third set began with a 3-0 run followed by a 5-0 run for SHU that put the score at 9-2, advantage Saints. Siena had little trouble taking the third set and ending the match the rest of the way.
Game 2: Siena Heights def. Morningside (Iowa), 3-0
The second match of the day for the Saints was competitive from start to finish. The largest lead of the first set came early when the Mustangs led 4-1. The Saints rallied to tie the game at six before earning a 9-7 lead. The game would be tied again at 10 and 13 before the teams would trade points all the way to a 24-24 tie. The Saints would snag the next two points to take the 1-0 lead.
Siena built leads of six points (12-6) and seven points (17-10) before Morningside used a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to two points (18-16) before tying things at 19. The score would tie multiple times for the remainder of the set until the final tie of 28. Again, the Saints would gain the final two points to take the set and earn the 2-0 lead.
The third set resembled the first as neither team was able to build any sort of advantage of the other with the largest lead being three points held at 4-1 and 20-17 both times by Siena. For the third-straight set, there would be extra points necessary to decide a winner and the Saints would be that team again by finishing the match with two kills for a 26-24 decision.
TOP SAINTS
• Emmanuel Chaidez led Siena offensively in the first match with nine kills. He also led the team with two blocks in the match. He earned 10 kills in match two for a total of 19 kills on the day.
• Alex Garavalia finished the second match with a match-high 14 kills. He earned five kills the first match for 19 kills total. He also contributed defensively with 10 digs in the final match to complete a double-double.
• Evan Cashen also had 19 kills in the two wins (seven against Goshen & 12 versus Morningside).
• Keegan Crawford paced the Saints attack with 70 assists for the afternoon.
• Emilier De Jesus had 12 digs in match one and 22 in the final match to lead all players in both matches in the category.
• Bryce Johnson led SHU with three blocks against the Mustangs.
THE OPPOSITION
• Alexander Rabadzhie led Goshen with 13 kills and 11 digs. Michael Wahl finished with 18 assists.
• Jackson Presha had 14 kills and 14 digs to lead Morningside. Caden Toben set the tone with 47 assists.
UP NEXT
Siena travels to face Lawrence Tech in a WHAC matchup on Wednesday, March 20. The first serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT.
