ONU SECURES A SECOND PLACE FINISH IN THE CCAC FOLLOWING A 3-2 WIN AT TCC
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Olivet Nazarene (17-6, 11-2) | 25 | 20 | 25 | 24 | 15 | 3 |
|
Trinity Christian (16-10, 8-5) | 22 | 25 | 21 | 26 | 13 | 2 |
PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. – The RV Olivet Nazarene University men's volleyball wrapped up the CCAC regular season with a 3-2 victory over the Trolls of Trinity Christian Thursday night. With the win, the Tigers finished runners-up in the conference and have secured a second seed for the CCAC Tournament later next week. Thoralf Schmelzer set new season-highs recording 22 kills and 43 total attacks in the match.
ONU claimed the first set of the contest winning 25-22. With the score knotted up at 7-7, Cade Ooms sparked a 5-1 run with a kill set up by Tomas Gonzalez. The run put the Trolls at arms-length and a lead they would not let up. TCC survived two set points until Jake Ostema' kill sent the match to the second set and a Tiger lead.
Trinity Christian responded to level the match score at 1-1. The two sides were level at 14-14 before the home team benefitted from a 8-1 run and built a healthy lead. The Tigers would trade points down the stretch, but the Trolls won the second set, 25-20.
Olivet would open the third set by scoring seven unanswered points to build a 10-5 advantage. TCC would chip away at the lead to tie it at 16 apiece. Errors by Trinity Christian doomed the hosts while Ooms and Ostema pounced on kill opportunities to take control of the set. The Tigers took a crucial 2-1 lead in the match following Schmelzer and Sterling Staranchuk's block for set-point. 25-21.
With the match on the line, the Tigers held a 23-22 lead late in the fourth set looking to close out the night's proceedings. The Trolls had other plans as they scored four of the set's five final points to send the match into a deciding fifth and final set.
A kill by Trinity Christian tied the fifth set at 12-12. ONU responded with back-to-back points. First, Schmelzer recorded a kill from Gonzalez and a solo block from Oooms. Schmelzer finished the night with his 22nd and final kill for match point 15-13.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Tigers will prepare for the postseason with two non-conference matchups in Michigan playing Mount Vernon Nazarene followed by Cornerstone. The two matches will be played this Saturday, March 25, in Grand Rapids, Mich. at Mol Arena. The first match will start at 12:30 p.m. CT and the second at 3 p.m. CT. Please visit ONUTigers.com for all the links to follow along.
--ONU—
*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant; email pkaindl@olivet.edu
