CINCINNATI, Ohio - Millikin Men's Volleyball played their first match in school history Friday night in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Big Blue would fall to Thomas More University, forcing the game into five sets after being down 2-0 after the first two sets.
The entire match saw back and forth scoring from Millikin and Thomas More, who is in their second season of competition. The first point scored by the Big Blue was on a service error by Ryan Hans, tying the game at 1-1. In the first set, Millikin would go on five multi-point scoring runs, scoring five straight twice. The Saints would hold off Millikin winning 25-23.
The second set saw Millikin go on five multi-point scoring runs again, including a three-point run to tie the game at 15-15, but were unable to take the lead in the set. Thomas More would win the second with another 25-23 set score.
In the third set was when Millikin shined through, scoring six straight in the middle of the set to overcome a 14-11 deficit to go ahead 17-14. The Saints would tie the game up late in the set at 19-19, but the Big Blue would go on another long scoring run, putting five straight up on the board to go ahead 24-19. Millikin would win the third set 25-20.
The fourth set was neck-and-neck a majority of the set, neither team taking more than a two point lead until Millikin had an 18-15 lead late in the set. The Big Blue would capitalize on that lead, scoring four straight to bring the score to 24-18. Thomas More would take three back before a
Shayden Attao kill ended the set with a 25-21 final score to force a fifth set.
Millikin would find themselves down quickly in the final set of the match, trailing 8-3 mid-way through the set. Thomas More was able to hold on to their lead for the remainder of the match, ending the set 15-10 to win the match with a 3-2 final score.
Freshman
Shayden Attao led the match with 16 kills on the night, followed by Thomas More's Jakob Jones who had 12 of his own. Freshman
Robbie Maida had 28 assists on the night and led the match with nine digs on the night.
Peter Sailsman recorded the second-most digs with eight.
The Big Blue are back in action Saturday, January 25 as they face Mount St. Joseph at 10:00 AM ET in Cincinnati, Ohio before traveling to Midway, Kentucky for another contest against Midway University at 5:00 PM ET.
