Hackensack, N.J. - The St. Thomas Aquinas Men's Volleyball team battled back twice to force a fifth and deciding set on Wednesday evening against Fairleigh Dickinson University, but the host Knights powered through to take a 3-2 decision over the Spartans at the Bogota Savings Bank Center.
STAC slips to 2-6 on the season, while FDU moves to 2-3.
The Spartans and Knights went the distance, as the sides alternated set victories, with the hosts from Hackensack taking sets one and three and the visitors from Sparkill rebounding with victories in sets two and four. A thrilling fifth set ensued between teams, but it would be FDU that would find their game late to take care of business by the narrowest of margins.
Set Results
Set 1: FDU 25/STAC 23
Set 2: STAC 25/FDU 19
Set 3: FDU 27/STAC 25
Set 4: STAC 25/FDU 23
Set 5: FDU 18/STAC 16
How it Happened
- As a team, St. Thomas Aquinas recorded 67 kills compared to Fairleigh Dickinson's 64. The Spartans also had 12 blocks and 63 assists, while the Knights tallied 9 blocks and 60 assists.
- Fairleigh Dickinson outhit STAC by a .264 to .248 margin for the match.
- Kyran Versteegen paced the Spartans offense with a match-high 29 kills, which also ties the mark for most in the country this season. Versteegen also registered two serve assists, two service aces, four digs and three block assists.
- Marcus Franck tallied a match-high 51 serve assists (10.2 assists/set). Franck also accumulated four kills, two service aces, seven digs, a solo block and four block assists for the maroon and gold.
- Jakob Schwarz picked up 17 kills, a serve assist, 12 digs and two block assists on Wednesday.
- Luis Grath racked up 12 kills, two digs and four block assists against the Knights.
- Gustavo Reinert contributed three kills, ten digs and a block assist.
- David Weiss accumulated a kill, a serve assist, a service ace, a dig and a solo block and five block assists in the match.
- Ivaylo Todorov put together a five serve assist and team-high 18 dig effort for the Spartans.
Up Next
STAC visits Princeton University on Saturday, January 31 for a 4:00 p.m. match at Dillon Gymnasium in New Jersey.