Pride fall in pair of four set matches at Life

MARIETTA, Ga. - Closing out a season-opening trip to Georgia, the Clarke University men's volleyball team dropped two matches in a total of eight sets to Life University on Saturday afternoon by matching 3-1 finals.

The Pride would win the first set of the day and the third set in the second match when they needed it to stay alive but would fall in four on both instances with the first match set scores finishing at 21-25, 25-19, 25-18, and 25-19 then the second match set scores finishing at 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, and 25-22 for LU.

The Running Eagles held a fairly significant attacking efficiency advantage in both matches with CU under a .100 hitting percentage in both matches as Life was only under .100 in the two sets they dropped to Clarke.

Both teams saw different significant contributors on the front row in each match as the day's opener saw Life finish with three players in double figures for kills led by Jose Llaneza and David Barcan tying for the match-high with 12 kills as Diego Martinez went 10-for-18 with two errors for a .444 hitting percentage.

For the second-straight match, Stephen Lewandowski led the Pride in kills as he had six while adding three blocks as freshman Benen Flores stepped up in his debut to produce five kills on 10 swings for a .300 hitting percentage as Justin Hernanez and Tye Ojala both added four kills for CU.

In the finale, neither side had a double digit kill performance as Life's Xavier Jones led the match with nine kills while Jakaris Brown finished with eight kills and nine digs as Clarke saw Flores repeat his earlier performance and then some with eight kills as he was joined by Curtney Germaine also finishing with eight kills.

Both Kendall Killins and PJ Vaughan had double digits in their key stat categories in both matches with Killins finishing with 10 and 13 digs respectively and Vaughan leading CU with 11 and 18 assists in each match.

Clarke men's volleyball will now return home for their next five matches to be played in the Kehl Center starting with another three match weekend next Friday, Feb. 2 when they host Morningside University for a 7:00 p.m. CT first serve.