HIRAM, Ohio (Feb. 14)- The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team traveled to Hiram for an AMCC matchup against the Terriers, where the Bearcats came away with a marathon five-set (3-2) win on the road, taking the decisive fifth set by a 26-24 score.
 
Matthew Minkin led the way for the Bearcats recording a program-record 25 kills in the match. Minkin also recorded 11 digs, giving him his second straight double-double and seventh of the season. Zebadiah Wyant added 17 kills and Shawn McSwiggen tallied eight kills, including three service aces.
 
Zach Wyant recorded a program-record 49 assists in the win for SVC as well. Matthew Klasnic totaled a game-high 12 digs and Joshua Canty tallied ten digs in the win for Saint Vincent.
 
In the first set the Bearcats fell behind Hiram early on, as the Terriers opened up to a 9-1 advantage in the set. At that point, Saint Vincent started to claw back into the match as the Bearcats went on a 5-1 run on kills by McSwiggen, Minkin, and Joshua Canty, mixed between an attack error and service error by Hiram as the score was 10-6, still in favor of Hiram.
 
SVC and Hiram traded the next couple of points with Hiram slightly increasing their lead to five at 13-8. SVC answered scoring back-to-back points on another kill by Minkin and a bad set by the Terriers to cut into the lead at 13-10. Both teams traded the next couple of points as Saint Vincent still trailed Hiram by a three-point margin at 16-13.
 
Hiram then attempted to close out the set going on an 8-4 run to increase their lead to 24-17. SVC made one final push in the set, scoring three straight points on a kill by Minkin, a setting error by the Terriers, followed by a service ace by Zach Wyant to cut the Hiram lead to 24-20, but it wasn't enough as the Terriers won the set on the next point, winning the set by a score of 25-20, taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Saint Vincent stormed back in set two. The Bearcats scored the first two points in the set and three of the first four on back-to-back kills by McSwiggen and a service error by Hiram to take a 3-1 lead early on. The Terriers scored the next two points to tie the set up 3-3 but Saint Vincent answered with four straight points to take a 7-3 lead. The Bearcats four straight points cam on two kills by Zachary Mumpower, a kill from Zeb Wyant, and a service ace by McSwiggen.
 
 
Both teams traded the next several points as SVC still held a four-point lead at 10-6. The Bearcats once again continued with their momentum scoring the next four points on four straight attack errors by the Terriers as Saint Vincent increased their lead to eight at 14-6. Hiram stormed back with a 12-5 run to cut the Bearcats lead to just one at 19-18 and the set remained close at 20-19.
 
Hiram outscored SVC 4-3 over the next seven points to tie the set up at 23-23. SVC went on to score the final two points in the set on a service error by the Terriers followed by a kill from Zach Wyant to end the set as the Bearcats won the set 25-23, tying the match up at 1-1.
 
It was all Hiram early on in the third set, as the Terriers opened up to a 9-3 lead in the set. As the set moved to the middle portions, the Bearcats cut into the Hiram lead slightly as the Terriers still led SVC by a score of 13-8. Saint Vincent then stormed back with an 8-1 run to take a 16-14 lead in the set and never looked back.
 
SVC continued on the attack, increasing their lead to four at 20-16 on two kills by Minkin, a kill from McSwiggen, followed by an attack error by Hiram. After Hiram scored a point to cut into the Saint Vincent lead at 20-17, Saint Vincent outscored the Terriers 4-3 over the next seven points to take a 24-20 lead.
 
The Bearcats scored their four points on two errors by Hiram, followed by two kills by Zeb Wyant. After back-to-back Hiram points cut the SVC lead to 24-22, Saint Vincent ended on the set with another kill in the set from Zeb Wyant, as the Bearcats won the third set 25-22, taking a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
It was back and forth early on in the fourth set. In the first few points of the set both the Bearcats and Terriers traded points as the set was tied 4-4. The Terriers took control in the set from that point on as they went on an 8-4 to take a 12-8 lead in the set and further increased that lead to six at 15-9.
 
Saint Vincent answered with a 5-0 run on back-to-back errors by Hiram followed by two straight service aces by McSwiggen and another setting error on the Terriers as the Bearcats trailed by just one at 15-14. Both teams traded the next few points as Hiram still held a one-point lead at 22-21. The Terriers went on to score the final three points of the set to win the set 25-21, tying the match up at 2-2, forcing a fifth set.
 
In the fifth set it was Saint Vincent who took the early advantage. The Bearcats held a 4-2 lead on three kills by Zeb Wyant and one kill from McSwiggen to take the early lead. SVC continued on the attack increasing their lead to 9-5, but Hiram wouldn't go down without a fight. The Terriers battled back with 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead in the decisive fifth set.
 
From that point on both teams traded the next several points as the score was tied at 15-15, forcing the fifth set to go further to determine a winner. Over the next several points neither team was able to gain the two-point advantage to win the fifth set as the set remained tied at 24-24. The Bearcats went on to score the final two points after back-to-back attack errors by the Terriers scored SVC the 26-24 set win and 3-2 win in the match.
 
In the back-and-forth fifth set, Saint Vincent had match point five times, converting on the fifth try, compared to Hiram who had match point twice in the set.
 
The Bearcats recorded 62 kills as a team compared to 58 from Hiram. Saint Vincent also had 55 digs compared to 51 from the Terriers and also had 60 digs compared to just 54 from Hiram. The Bearcats win against Hiram is their first since joining the AMCC as a varsity sport.
 
The Bearcats who now sit at 3-2 in the AMCC will return to action on Tuesday, February 21, when they travel to Mount Aloysius. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Mount Aloysius.