(LEBANON, Ill. March 27) – The McKendree University men's volleyball team is headed to the Chicagoland area to face No. 11 Loyola University Chicago on Thursday March 28 at 7 p.m. followed by a match against No. 8 Lewis University on Friday March 29 at 7 p.m. as well for its last Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) road matches.
The Bearcats are 11-9 overall and 6-4 in MIVA competition. McKendree made program history with its performance at the BYU Invite where they defeated No. 8 Brigham Young University, the highest ranked team the Bearcats have ever defeated, to go 2-1 overall on the weekend.
McKendree has proven to be a defensive powerhouse at the net as they are out-blocking their competitors in all blocking aspects. The Bearcats have recorded a total of 179.5 blocks compared to 129 total average blocks of their opponents. Broken down further, this is 2.4 blocks per set for McKendree and only 1.7 for its competitors, 29 solo blocks for the Bearcats and 22 for their opponents, and 301 block assists while other league teams only have an average of 214 block assists tallied.
Individual offensive leaders for the Bearcats are junior opposite
Zach Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove), sophomore outside hitter
Patrick Ross (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek), and sophomore middle blocker
Wyatt Dimke (Ham Lake, MN/Blaine). Schnittker has recorded 170 kills this season, Ross is next with 134, and Dimke follows suit with 116 total kills. Freshman outside hitter
Brendon Dunn (Sherman Oaks, CA/Notre Dame) has been a key offensive player as of late and he has 110 kills recorded on the season.
Freshman setter
Ryan Serrano (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek) has set up the Bearcats 663 times on the season thus far. His strong defensive performance this past weekend at the BYU Invite earned him the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week honor as well as Off the Block National Freshman of the Week.
Defensive leaders for the Bearcats are Serrano, freshman libero
Francisco Comas (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley High School), and Schnittker. Serrano has collected 127 total digs on the season, Comas is next with 106, and Schnittker is close behind with 103 total digs. At the net for McKendree's defense is Dimke, junior middle blocker
Lucas Galifos (Mokena,IL/Lincoln Way East), Serrano, and Schnittker. Dimke has recorded 69 total blocks on the season, Galifos is next with 56, Serrano follows with 52, and Schnittker is close behind with 48.
The Bearcats will return home to close out the regular season with a match against Ball State University on Thursday April 4 at 7 p.m. followed by a match against Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday April 6 where the Bearcats will celebrate senior night as well as alumni night.
ABOUT No. 11 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO:
No. 11 Loyola University Chicago is 15-7 overall on the season and 8-2 in MIVA competition. The last matchup between the Ramblers and the Bearcats, Loyola won the match 3-1. The only two losses Loyola has encountered in league play were both to the No. 1 seed in the conference, Lewis University. For more information regarding the Ramblers season statistics, rosters, as well as any other misc., info, click
here
ABOUT No. 8 LEWIS UNIVERSITY:
No. 8 Lewis University is 18-5 overall on the season and 9-1 in the MIVA conference. The last matchup between the Flyers and the Bearcats ended in a Lewis 3-1 victory. The only league loss the Flyers have encountered was to Ball State University in five sets, 3-2. For more information regarding the Flyers season statistics, roster, and schedule, click
here.
