LATROBE, Pa. (Apr. 11)- The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team defeated Hilbert 3-0 to win their AMCC Tournament first round matchup, advancing to the AMCC semifinals.
The win for the Bearcats marks their first ever AMCC Tournament victory in the program's four-year history. It is also the Bearcats 11th victory of the season, which is also a program record for Saint Vincent.
Saint Vincent swept the Hawks, having full control the whole way through, winning the first set 25-14, the second set 25-18, and closing out the third set in a marathon set, 29-27.
Shawn McSwiggen led the way for the Bearcats with a double-double, notching a career-high 18 kills, while also adding 11 digs for SVC as well.
Matthew Minkin also recorded a double-double for SVC, recording 11 kills, while also picking up 12 digs in the win for the Bearcats.
Zach Wyant assisted on 28 kills for Saint Vincent, while recording four digs as well. Coming off of the bench,
Joshua Canty tallied eight digs as well for SVC.
Michael Pollak added three kills and
Zachary Mumpower and
Chrystiaan Sexton had two kills each for the Bearcats.
Saint Vincent got off to a hot start in the first set, scoring the first five points of the set and never lost the lead. The Bearcats outscored the Hawks 9-5 over the next few points to increase their lead to 14-5 and further increased their lead to 18-9 in the set.
The Bearcats continued on the attack and took a 23-13 lead and scored two of the final three points on kills by Wyant and McSwiggen to win the first set (25-14), taking a 1-0 lead.
In the second set, it was much of the same story as the Bearcats never lost the lead in the set. Saint Vincent scored four of the first five to take a 4-1 lead early on. The teams traded points back and forth over the next few as SVC still held a three point lead at 10-7.
Hilbert scored the next two points to cut the Bearcats lead to 10-9 but SVC answered with four in a row on three errors by the Hawks and a kill by McSwiggen to take a 14-9 lead. Once again the teams traded the next few points with Saint Vincent holding a five-point lead at 21-16.
The Hawks cut the lead to four at 22-18, before the Bearcats closed out the set. Saint Vincent scored the final three points on an attack error by the Hawks, followed by kills from Wyant and McSwiggen to win set two (25-18), taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Just as they did in the first two sets, the Bearcats jumped out ahead early in the third set as well. Saint Vincent scored the first four points of the set on two errors by the Hawks and two service aced by Minkin.
The Bearcats remained on the attack as they increased their lead to 14-9 in the middle of the third set. Saint Vincent looked destined to close out the sweep in quick fashion as the Bearcats took an 18-12 lead late in the set, but Hilbert wouldn't go down without a fight.
The Hawks scored eight of the next ten points to tie the set up at 20-20. The Bearcats answered back again, scoring four of the next six to have match point at 24-22 but Hilbert came back again to tie it at 24-24. Over the next few points SVC had match point three times but each time, Hilbert came back to tie it.
When the Hawks tied it at 27-27, the Bearcats finally finished off the sweep, scoring the final two points. The final two points of the set were scored on an error by the Hawks, followed by a kill from Pollak sending the Bearcats to the semifinals.
Saint Vincent totaled 41 kills compared to 40 from the Hawks and had five service aces as a team as well. The Bearcats also compiled 36 assists and 46 digs as a team as well.
The Bearcats advance to AMCC semifinals on Friday, April 14 when they travel to Erie, Pa. to take on the top-seeded Penn State-Behrend Lions. The match is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. at Penn State-Behrend.
