Pride bust out of slump to sweep UHSP 3-0

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Searching for a win in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, the Clarke University men's volleyball were able to do just that for the first time in about a month as they earned a 3-0 win over University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in the Kehl Center on Saturday.

The win also marks the first win inside the Heart of America Athletic Conference for the Pride as they took the three-set sweep by scores of 25-10, 25-20, and 25-17 as the strong play allowed head coach Elle Kosciuk to play every active member of her team in some capacity during the match.

Even with a mix-and-match lineup playing at times for CU, they still managed to hit for an extremely efficient .348 hitting percentage led by a near perfect performance on the attack from Stephen Lewandowski in the middle as he went 14-for-15 on attacks with no errors for a .933 hitting percentage.

Lewandowski and Zachary Barr were the consistent pieces in the middle for CU as Barr was also strong on the attack, going 9-for-13 with two errors to hit .538. Tye Ojala (8), Montez Thompson (4), Justin Hernandez (4), Timothy Meyer (3), Curtney Germaine (3), Michael Jenkins (2), Ray Timothy (1), and Nathan Little (1) all provided offense from the outside with Thompson and Jenkins only getting a set of action.

Defensively both Nick Palatine and Erik Schmidt led the match with 13 digs as Schmidt added 34 assists for a double-double as Palatine recorded four assists and Kainoa Gerard rotated in during the third set to finish with eight assists.

Clarke men's volleyball will play again next on Wednesday, Mar. 2 when they host William Penn University for a 7:00 p.m. CT match as that match was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday due to Clarke women's basketball hosting the Heart Tournament Championship on Tuesday night.