PROVO, Utah. – McKendree University men's volleyball suffered a three-set defeat in their season opener against Brigham Young University on Friday evening. The Bearcats will continue play on Saturday at BYU against No. 9 UC-Irvine at 4:00 p.m. MT.
 
The Cougars took the victory with scores of 25-20, 25-21, and 25-20 to earn their first win of the season.
 
The Bearcats were led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Kevin Schuele with a game-high 13 kills and a .417 hitting percentage. Scheule marked the only double-digit kill performance for McKendree.
 
Redshirt junior outside hitter Kyle Wilson added seven kills and a game-high seven digs while redshirt junior middle blocker Jacob Gall tallied six kills for a .455 hitting percentage and a team-high three blocks.
 
Three Bearcats made their collegiate debuts as freshman outside hitter Bryce Wetjen posted two kills and one dig, middle blocker Rolen Lively recorded a block, and defensive specialist Robby Nardoni tallied a dig.
 
Defensively, along with Wilson's seven digs, graduate student libero Francisco Comas tabbed five digs for the Bearcats.
 
In the setback, McKendree struggled to gain momentum from the service line as the Bearcats recorded 22 total service errors across the three sets, though junior opposite hitter Nikos Xydakis and Schuele each recorded an ace.
 
As a team, the Bearcats recorded .133, .176, and .148 hitting percentages, respectively while the Cougars hit .286, .292, and .280 to claim the win. The battle of the kills was won by McKendree as the Bearcats recorded 31 kills to the Cougars' 29. BYU was led by sophomore outside hitter Miks Ramanis with 10 kills on the night.
 
McKendree will look for their first win of the season as they continue play at BYU on Saturday afternoon against UC-Irvine in a 4 p.m. MT game.