ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights men's volleyball team downed Goshen in four sets inside the SHU Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. The Saints (11-3, 7-3 WHAC) finished the game with 64 kills (.239), 59 assists, 55 digs, and 11 total team blocks in the 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs.
Ramon Matos matched his career-high in kills with 23. Matos finished with a .319 hitting percentage while adding two assists, ten digs, and three blocks to his numbers. His 23 kills and ten digs give him his first career double-double as a Saint. Zak Tucker established a career-high 50 assists on the afternoon. Tucker also contributed three kills, seven digs, and five blocks for a solid, all-around performance. Joudiel Poveymirow led defensively with 19 digs. Shevin Blades led the Saints at the net with six blocks. Jakob Pickett managed seven kills and four blocks.
The score was close starting the first set, but SHU was able to use two 3-0 runs to build a 16-11 lead. Goshen battled back with a 6-0 run to capture the advantage before the home team responded with a kill from Blades that sparked a 5-0 run to pull ahead 21-17. The Leafs scored twice more, but Siena Heights rattled off a 3-0 run to end the first with a 25-19 decision to take the 1-0 lead.
The Saints pulled ahead 17-11 in the second set, but Goshen cut the deficit to just two points, 19-17. However, much like the first set, the Maple Leafs couldn't score past 19 points as the Saints took the 2-0 lead with a 25-19 win.
In the third, the visitors jumped out to a 16-13 lead, but SHU fought back to knot things up at 20. From there, the score got tight as things were tied eight more times up to 28 all. However, a service error awarded Goshen the set point before a set error halted the third with a 30-28 win for Goshen.
Goshen started with a 5-2 lead in the fourth as the Maple Leafs looked to push the match to a decisive fifth set. A kill by Marc Arsenault tied the score at seven. The teams traded points up to ties at nine, 11, 13, and 14. Matos registered a kill that tied the score at 14 and kicked off a 4-0 run that gave Siena a 17-14 lead. A second 4-0 run pushed the advantage to 21-15. The Leafs rallied with a 3-0 run to cut the margin to 23-20, but the Saints earned match point before Matos buried a kill to end the match in favor of the Saints.
UP NEXT
Siena Heights will remain at home for the second match of a four-match homestand this Tuesday, March 1, when Thomas More visits Adrian. The non-conference match is set to begin at 6:00 p.m., EST.
