ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights men's volleyball team outpaced Olivet in a 3-0 win on Tuesday in the SHU Fieldhouse. Keegan Crawford (Columbus, Ohio) was one dig short of a double-double as he paced the Saints attack with 25 assists.
THE BASICS
Final Score: Siena Heights 3, Olivet 0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-18)
Location: Adrian, Michigan (SHU Fieldhouse)
Records: Siena Heights (13-6), Olivet (1-8)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Comets jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but the Saints would respond with a 3-0 run of their own to tie the score. With the set tied for the fourth time at 6-6, Jakob Pickett (Carmel, Ind.) recorded a kill to spark another 3-0 run for Siena Heights. The Saints would maintain a small lead for the next long batch of points before another 3-0 run that was ignited by a kill from Marc Arsenault (Plainfield, Ill.) increased the advantage to 19-14 and forced Olivet to take a timeout. The Comet scored out of the break, but a service error followed by a block from Arsenault and Pickett got a 4-0 run for SHU rolling to put the score out of reach and a 1-0 lead on the board for Siena Heights.
The score was tied four times through the first 10 points of set two before the Saints held a slim margin up to a 12-11 edge. Arsenault scored a kill that started a 6-0 run and built an 18-11 lead for Siena. The seven-point advantage was the difference in a 25-18 decision that gave SHU the 2-0 lead. The Saints had their best set of hitting in the second as they finished with a .375 team attack percentage.
Olivet used two 3-0 runs to pull ahead 8-5 in the third set but a kill by Crawford began a 7-0 run for Siena Heights that would flip the score to 14-9 in favor of the home. The Comets would cut that lead to three points five times up to a 20-17 score, but the Saints put the nail in the coffin with a 5-0 run to end the match in three.
TOP SAINTS
• Pickett finished with six kills and a match-high .667 hitting percentage. He also added three blocks to his stat line.
• Bryce Johnson (Pickerington, Ohio) led the Saints with nine kills while also contributing six digs.
• Crawford added four kills to his total on the night.
• Kevin Gomez (La Estrella, Colombia) finished with seven kills, two assists, two aces, seven digs, and a block.
• Shevin Blades (Bridgetown, Barbados) and Arsenault each tallied five kills. Blades also led the match with four blocks.
THE OPPOSITION
• Dan Hayes led the Comets with a match-high 10 kills.
• Aaron Giorgi set the tone for Olivet with 26 assists.
• Deivan Prince led the defensive effort with nine digs.
UP NEXT
Siena Heights begins a long road trip on Saturday, February 22 with a 1:00 p.m., EST, Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference match against Lourdes.
