LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 21)- The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team opened up their season on Saturday with a non-conference matchup against Carlow. After trailing 2-0 after the first two sets, SVC stormed back to win the next three, winning their season opener 3-2.
 
Carlow won the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-21 and the Bearcats won the next three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-15, and 15-7 in the fifth set.
 
It was a strong start to the season for Matthew Minkin. Minkin finished with a game-high 16 kills while also picking up 11 digs. In his first collegiate match, Zebadiah Wyant was strong for the Bearcats, picking up 15 kills, nine digs, and three service aces. Fellow freshman Shawn McSwiggen racked up 14 kills and four service aces in the comeback win.
 
Matthew Klasnic added a game-high 15 digs in the win for Saint Vincent. Coming off of the bench, Zach Wyant scored 36 assists, 10 digs, and three blocks.  Also coming off of the bench, Michael Pollak recorded three kills and six digs for Saint Vincent.
 
In the first set it was back and forth early on. Over the first ten points of the match, both teams split the points as the score was tied 5-5. The Bearcats then went on a 5-2 run on two kills by Zeb Wyant, a kill from Matt Minkin, a service ace from McSwiggen, mixed in with a service error by the Celtics to take a 10-5 lead in the set. Carlow climbed back into it outscoring the Bearcats 13-5 to take an 18-15 lead in the first set.
 
Saint Vincent didn't go away without a fight, the Bearcats went on a 5-1 run, including scoring three straight points on a kill and service ace from Zeb Wyant and a kill by Minkin to take a 20-19 lead. The Celtics went on a late push, ending the set on a 6-2 run to win the set 25-22, taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Carlow used the momentum from the first set and carried it into the second set. The Celtics scored six of the first seven points to take 6-1 lead in the match. Over the next several points, the Carlow lead held steady as the Celtics still held a 16-11 lead. Saint Vincent went on a 7-3 run, including scoring three straight points on a kill by Pollak and two straight kills by McSwiggen to cut the Carlow lead to 19-18.
 
The Celtics answered the Bearcat run, scoring four points of their own to increase their lead to 23-18 and traded the next couple points to hold a 24-19 lead. After a service error by the Celtics and an ace by McSwiggen, SVC cut the lead to 24-21 but the late push in the set wasn't enough as the Celtics won the set with a kill (25-21) to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third set, it was even early on. The team's traded the first several points in the set as the Celtics held a slight 7-6 lead in the match. Carlow had increased their lead to 12-10 before the Bearcats went on to score the next four points in the set after a service error and attack error in between kills by both Zeb Wyant and Zach Wyant as SVC took a 14-12 lead. Carlow quickly regained the lead outscoring SVC 7-4 over the next few points to take a 19-17 lead, forcing an SVC timeout.
 
The timeout by the Bearcats worked to perfection as Saint Vincent scored the next three points on a service error and attack error by the Celtics with a service ace from Minkin in between to tak a 20-19 lead. After Carlow tied the set up at 20-20, SVC scored the next points on a couple of errors by the Celtics and kills from McSwiggen and Minkin to win the set 25-20, cutting the Carlow lead to 2-1.
 
In the fourth set, it was all Bearcats from the opening serve. SVC opened up the set with an 8-3 lead with all of the momentum on their side. The Celtics answered with a 5-1 run to cut the Saint Vincent lead to 9-8. The teams traded the next couple of points as the Bearcats still held the lead at 12-10. Saint Vincent went on a big 8-0 run to take control of the set at 20-10. Both teams traded the final ten points in the set as the Bearcats won the set 25-15 to force a fifth set.
 
Just as it was in the fourth set, Saint Vincent had all of the momentum in the fifth set as well. After the Bearcats led 3-2 in the set, SVC scored three straight on an attack error by the Celtics, followed by a kill from Zeb Wyant and a service ace by McSwiggen to take a 6-2 lead in the set. Saint Vincent also scored four of the next six points to increase their set lead to 10-4. Carlow cut the SVC lead to five at 12-7 before the Bearcats took advantage of two Carlow errors and a kill by McSwiggen to win the set 15-7 and the match, 3-0.
 
As a team, Saint Vincent led all of the major stat categories. SVC had 53 kills compared to 42 from the Celtics. The Bearcats recorded ten blocks and 49 assists as a team as well. SVC also had 11 service aces compared to just five from the Celtics.
 
Saint Vincent will return to action on Tuesday, January 24 when they play host to Geneva in an AMCC conference matchup. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Center.