(LEBANON, Ill., Jan. 20)--The McKendree University men's volleyball team came out victorious over Emmanuel College in its 2017 home opener Friday evening inside the Harry M. Statham Sports Center. The Bearcats won by scores of 25-18, 25-22, and 25-16.

The win moves McKendree to 2-6 on the season. The Bearcats will return to action Jan. 25 when they host Lindenwood University in their conference opener.

McKendree was led offensively by senior opposite Andrew Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) who tallied a match high nine kills on 18 attempts to pair with three digs. Senior middle blocker Wyatt Patterson (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) finished second on the squad after going 6-8 from the field for a .750 attack percentage along with two digs and one block. Freshman middle blocker Lucas Galifos (Mokena,IL/Lincoln Way East) added fice kills and two blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Will
Frank tallied four kills, three digs, two blocks, and a pair of aces. Junior setter Pasquale Fiduccia (Hanover Park, IL/Glenbard North) handed out a match high 25 assists and sophomore libero Zach Thompson (Defiance, MO/Francis Howell) notched a match high 11 digs from the back row for the Bearcats.

Frank and Galifos opened the scoring with back-to-back kills to give McKendree the first lead of the match. Emmanuel used a 3-1 run to tie the set at 4-4 before following with the same run to go in front 7-6. The Bearcats took advantage of four errors from the Lions to reclaim a 12-10 lead before a 3-0 run from Emmanuel put the Lions back on top 13-12. McKendree roared back with a 6-1 run to bolt ahead 19-15 and force an Emmanuel timeout as Patterson and Schnittker tallied a kill each before freshman setter Zach Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) closed the run with an ace. The Bearcats continued to roll with a 3-0 run bookended with kills from Andrew Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) and Frank to move ahead 22-16 and rolled to a seven-point win in the first set.

Patterson and Galifos each tagged kills to open the second set as McKendree took an 8-4 lead. The Lions responded with two kills as part of a 4-0 run to tie the match, but the Bearcats used a 5-1 run push back ahead 13-9 after aces from Patterson and Fiduccia and a kill from Andrew Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove). Thompson, Frank, and Patterson all put down a kill as the score shifted to 20-16 in favor of McKendree in the later stages of the set. Emmanuel trimmed the lead to two at 20-18 before Andrew Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) struck twice in a row to move the margin back to four points before a kill from Patterson closed set two for the Bearcats.

The third set was all McKendree as the Bearcats strung together a four runs of at least three points as Schnittker put down four kills in the set to lead the charge. McKendree bolted out to a 14-8 run before moving ahead 18-10 as the Bearcats strolled to a 3-0 sweep of the lions.