SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – The Siena Heights men's volleyball team defeated Lawrence Tech on the road in straight sets on Saturday afternoon. The Saints (14-5, 8-4 WHAC) hold firm to one of the top-four spots in the conference standings, with just three matches remaining in the regular season.
Shevin Blades and Brendon Down each hit .500 in the match to help lead the Saints' offense. Blades had a stat line of nine kills and three blocks in the match, while Down also tallied nine kills while blocking two balls. Ramon Matos had a team-high 16 kills while contributing four digs, two blocks, and two aces. Zak Tucker finished with 36 assists, six digs, two blocks, and two kills. Joudiel Poveymirow was the only player with double-digit digs with 13.
Siena Heights hit .296, .400, and .324 in the three-set match as they finished with a .337 as a team. The Blue Devils were held to just a .207 team hitting percentage in the match. LTU started the match with a 10-6 lead in the first set, but the Saints would use a 4-0 run to tie the score at 13 before taking a 17-14 lead with a second 4-0 run. Finally, a 3-0 run pushed the SHU advantage to 22-19 before Siena Heights recorded three of the final five points to take the 1-0 lead with a 25-22 result.
SHU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second, but LTU rallied to tie the score at 10. The Saints scored in bunches as they built a 17-13 advantage. The lead would eventually move up to 23-18. Lawrence Tech earned two points off kills to delay the end of the set, but an attack error by LTU and then a kill by Blades ended the second with a 25-20 win for the Saints and a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Devils maintained a slim lead until the score was tied at nine apiece. Then, each team traded 3-0 runs to tie the score again at 12. The third set saw five more ties up to a deadlock at 18. Then, Matos had two kills in a 3-0 run that gave SHU a 20-18 lead. Lawrence Tech held the deficit at two points until Down and Matos had back-to-back kills to give SHU the match point before a bad set ended the match with a 3-0 win for Siena Heights.
UP NEXT
The Saints remain on the road for a match with RV Aquinas on Wednesday, March 23, at 7:00 p.m. The match between the two Saints will determine who takes sole possession of third place in the WHAC standings.
