Pride split the day to end weekend on a high note
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Getting back on the court quickly after a chaotic season-opening day on Friday, the Clarke University men's volleyball team was able to earn their first win of the season on Saturday, splitting their pair of matches with a win over Roosevelt University after falling to Augustana College.
The Pride earned four total set wins in a four-set defeat to the Vikings by scores of 25-17, 16-25, 25-21, and 25-23 while they swept the Lakers to a final of 25-15, 25-13, and 25-22.
In their win over Roosevelt, CU eliminated offensive mistakes and combined that with a strong effort on the defensive end as they hit over .220 in every set with only 11 total errors as a team compared to Roosevelt's 23 errors as they were held to a .000 hitting percentage or worse in two of the three sets.
The outside hitters led the attack in Clarke's win over the Lakers as Tye Ojala and Curtney Germaine combined for 25 of the team's 41 kills with Ojala finishing with a match-high 13 kills on 24 attempts with only one error for a .500 hitting percentage as Germaine was right behind with 12 kills on 23 swings for a .348 hitting percentage.
Both Stephen Lewandowski and Justin Hernandez both added six kills while only committing one error each as Lewandowski hit an efficient .455 while Hernandez also finished strong in the efficiency department at .278.
On the defensive end, the Pride finished with 30 total digs as every player for Clarke outside of Lewandowski and Hernandez finished with a dig led by Erik Schmit's nine digs as libero Nick Palatine finished with seven digs of his own. Schmidt also had 33 of the 37 team assists in the match while Palatine added the other four.
Ojala and Lewandowski had solid individual matches in CU's loss to Augustana with 11 and eight kills respectively while Zachary Barr finished with a strong .714 hitting percentage with five kills and no errors on his just seven swings.
Clarke will get back to action next week to continue a busy start to the year as they'll host their first Heart of America Conference match when Mount Mercy University comes to the Kehl Center on Tuesday, Jan. 31 for a 7:00 p.m. CT first serve.