LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 19)- The Saint Vincent men's volleyball team breezed through the opening day of the PAC Preview Tournament, defeating Chatham 3-0 in the opening match of the night and following that up with a 3-1 win against Geneva in the night cap.
 
The tournament features all teams who will be competing in the President's Athletic Conference for the 2025 season.
 
Match 1- Saint Vincent 3, Chatham 0
The Bearcats swept the Cougars in the opening match of the tournament, winning each set in convincing fashion.
 
SVC opened up with a 25-9 win in set one and followed that up with a 25-20 in the second set and 25-11 set win to close out the win.
 
Shawn McSwiggen led the charge for Saint Vincent with a game-high 11 kills, five service aces, and three blocks. Zebadiah Wyant finished right behind McSwiggen, totaling nine kills and tied McSwiggen with three blocks.
 
Zach Wyant picked up a game-high 23 assists, while Matthew Klasnic led the team with ten digs for the Bearcats. Matthew Minkin recorded five kills and six digs in the win for SVC, while Rocco Marino picked up three blocks for the Bearcats as well.
 
It was all Saint Vincent from the beginning, as the Bearcats opened up to a 3-0 lead on kills from Minkin and McSwiggen, mixed between an error by the Cougars. SVC quickly saw their lead increase to 9-2, before Chatham cut the lead to five at 12-7.
 
Saint Vincent answered with a 7-0 run on three kills from McSwiggen, a kill from Zachary Mumpower, a service ace from Minkin, and two errors by the Cougars as the Bearcats led 19-7. After a Chatham point, the Bearcats scored six of the final seven points of the opening set, ending the set with an ace from McSwiggen to win the first set (25-9), taking a 1-0 lead.
 
Chatham took the first advantage of the second set, opening up to a 4-1 lead, but SVC answered with a 4-0 run, three of which came on Chatham errors as the Bearcats took a 5-4 lead. Both teams traded the next several points, with Saint Vincent still holding a 13-12 lead.
 
The Bearcats opened their lead up to four at 23-19 after back-to-back errors by the Cougars. Saint Vincent went on to score two of the final three points, winning the set (25-20) on a kill from Zach Wyant, taking a 2-0 lead.
 
It was all SVC once again in the third set. Saint Vincent scored the first six points and quickly increased their lead to double digits at 22-8 after an 8-0 run. Saint Vincent went on to win the third set (25-11), completing the sweep after a Chatham service error.
 
Saint Vincent led Chatham in every major category. The Bearcats compiled 29 kills, compared to 20 from the Cougars, while also recording ten blocks and limited Chatham to just one block in the match.
 
Match 2- Saint Vincent 3, Geneva 1
It was another big match for the Bearcats in the night cap. Saint Vincent won the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-20, before falling in the third set 27-25 and closing it out with a big 25-11 win in the fourth set.
 
Minkin led the charge for the Bearcats in the Bearcats second win of the day, recording a game-high 17 kills, while recording ten digs to record a double-double. McSwiggen finished with a double-double with 15 kills and 14 digs for the Bearcats as well.
 
Zebadiah Wyant had a big match too, recording 11 kills and a game-high six blocks. Zach Wyant recorded 38 assists and Klasnic added 16 digs to lead Saint Vincent.
 
The teams traded the first several points of the opening set, with the set being tied at 8-8 and still tied at 17-17 and 19-19. Geneva scored to take a 20-19 lead, but SVC answered in a big way. The Bearcats went on a quick 5-0 run on two kills from Zeb Wyant, an ace from McSwiggen and two attack errors by the GT's as SVC led 24-20.
 
Geneva scored on a service error by SVC, but the Bearcats closed the set out on another kill from Zeb Wyant to win the opening set (25-21), taking a 1-0 lead.
 
It was a similar story in the second set as the teams found themselves tied 4-4 after the first few points. The Golden Tornadoes scored the next two points to take a 6-4 lead, but once again the Bearcats answered. SVC scored the next seven points of the set to take an 11-6 lead.
 
Five of the seven points on the Saint Vincent run were on Geneva errors. Over the next few points, the SVC lead hovered between the 5–6-point mark as the Bearcats led 20-15 and still led by five at 23-18. SVC scored two of the final three points of the set on kills by Minkin and McSwiggen to win the second set for Saint Vincent (25-20), taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set went back-and-forth as well, as neither team was able to build a lead of more than two points, finding themselves tied once again at 18-18, 21-21, and 25-25. The GT's won the third set (27-25) after scoring the final two points to force a fourth set.
 
In the fourth set, it was all Saint Vincent. The Bearcats quickly opened up to a 5-0 lead and quickly increased that lead to eleven at 16-5. Saint Vincent continued on the attack, scoring four of five to take a 22-9 lead and closed the set out with three straight points on two kills by McSwiggen and an attack error on Geneva as the Bearcats won the set (25-11) and the match 3-1.
 
Just as they did in their first match of the night, the Bearcats led their opponent in every major category. Kills were 48-39 in favor of SVC and digs were 65-55 in favor of the Bearcats as well. Saint Vincent also had 12 blocks, compared to eight by the GT's.
 
The Bearcats will conclude the PAC Preview Tournament tomorrow, Saturday, January 20, with two more matchups. At 11 a.m., the Bearcats will take on Hiram and then conclude the tournament with a 3 p.m. matchup against Thiel.