FREDERICK, Maryland (March 9) – The Saint Vincent College men's volleyball team went 1-1 in a non-conference tri-match hosted by Hood College, with the Bearcats dropping the opener by a 3-1 score to Arcadia University before recovering to topple the host Blazers, 3-0.
 
The Bearcats, now winners of six of their past eight matches, see their record move to 11-7 on the season with the split.
 
Match 1: Arcadia 3, Saint Vincent 1
 
In the opener, the Bearcats took a quick 1-0 lead after winning the opening set, 25-22, before the Knights came back to win the final three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 25-18.
 
Matthew Minkin led SVC with 13 kills, while Zebadiah Wyant added 10 and Shawn McSwiggen eight. Setter Zach Wyant produced a line of 31 assists, eight digs and three kills, while Rocco Marino recorded six kills and a team-best five blocks.
 
In the first set, neither team held more than a two-point lead until the Bearcats broke open a 13-13 tie by scoring five straight points to go in front 18-13. McSwiggen and Zach Wyant had kills over the 5-0 run, while Marino had a pair of blocks. It was then the Knights' turn for a run, as they scored six of the next seven points to tie the set at 19-all. An Arcadia attack error then kickstarted a run of four straight points for the Bearcats lifted them to a 23-20 lead, before kills from McSwiggen and Zebadiah Wyant closed out the set win.
 
The second set followed a similar theme as the first, with the teams literally trading points over the first 16 serves en route to an 8-8 tie. Arcadia then scored four straight points to take a 12-8 lead, before two kills from Marino and a tandem block by Marino/Zach Wyant pulled SVC to within on, 12-11. The teams went back to exchanging points until Arcadia used a 4-1 run to open up a 21-17 lead. Saint Vincent would get no closer than two points the rest of the way, as the Knights posted four of the final six points to earn the 25-20 win and tie the match at 1-1.
 
Tied at 5-5 early in the third set, Arcadia embarked on a 5-2 run to open up a 10-7 lead, and the Bearcats were forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the set. A block from Marino pulled SVC to within 13-12, but Arcadia countered by scoring five of the next seven points to take an 18-14 lead. The Bearcats twice closed the gap to three points, but the Knights scored four unanswered points to take the 2-1 lead in the match with the 25-18 set win.
 
The Bearcats jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set, with kills from Zebadiah Wyant and Minkin, but the Knights answered right back with four unanswered points to gain a 5-4 lead. The teams then exchanged points, with another Wyant kill giving SVC a 10-9 lead, but the Knights countered with a 5-1 run to take a 14-11 lead. SVC battled back to cut the deficit to one on three different occasions, but a late 7-1 run put Arcadia in front 22-15, and the deficit proved too much for the Bearcats to overcome, with the Knights winning the set by a 25-18 score to take the match.
 
Match 2: Saint Vincent 3, Hood 1
In the nightcap, the Bearcats came back from a late deficit to earn a 25-22 victory in the opening set with Hood, before taking the final sets by scores of 25-15, and 25-18 to secure the sweep.
 
Zebadiah Wyant led the Bearcat offense with seven kills, with Anthony Ditonto adding a season-high six, along with a team-best three blocks.
 
Zach Wyant and Josh Havrilla split the setter duties, with the former dishing 14 assists and the latter 11. Havrilla also four kills, three blocks and two digs, while Tyler Nelson, Nicolas Serapiglia, and Zach Wyant sharing the team lead with three aces apiece.
 
Saint Vincent took a 6-4 lead in the opening set, receiving two kills from Mumpower, one from Minkin, and an ace from Zach Wyant, before the Blazers battled back to take an 11-10 lead. SVC briefly tied it after a Hood service error, but Hood countered with a 5-1 run to take a 16-12 advantage. The Bearcats chipped away at the deficit, cutting it to 15-13 on a Minkin kill, and moments later, a 4-0 SVC run, capped off with a Zach Wyant kill, put SVC back in front, 20-19. Hood briefly cut the deficit to 23-22, but the Bearcats closed out the set win with Mumpower kill followed by a Mumpower/Havrilla block.
 
Hood scored the first point of the second set, but the Bearcats quickly took over, scoring seven of the next eight points to open an 8-2 lead. Serapiglia had two aces and Nelson one over the run, while Marino/Zebadiah Wyant teamed up for a block, and Zebadiah Wyant put down a kill. Hood eventually cut the deficit to 13-11, but SVC scored seven of the next nine points to increase its lead to 20-13. The Bearcats continued to roll down the stretch, scoring the final four points, capped off with a Havrilla kill, to close out the 25-15 set win.
 
The teams traded the lead in the early stages of the third set, before SVC created some separation with a 5-2 run to take an 11-7 lead. Hood scored three of the next four points to pull to within 12-10, but SVC began to gradually increase its lead. A Marino kill and a Ditonto/Havrilla block pushed the margin to 17-12, before kills from Ditonto and Chrystiaan Sexton opened up a six-point margin, 19-13. The gap would eventually grow to eight points, 22-14, before the Blazers put together one last comeback effort to pull to within 22-18. The Bearcats then closed it out by scoring the final three points, with Zebadiah Wyant's kill putting the exclamation point on the 25-18 set win, and the 3-0 Bearcat sweep.
 
Saint Vincent hit a stellar .310 in the win, with 33 kills against just 11 errors, while the Bearcats finished with a 10-4 advantage in aces and an 8-4 margin in blocks.
 
The Bearcats will return to AMCC action on Wednesday, March 13, traveling to Pittsburgh for a 7 p.m. match with Carlow.