ADRIAN, Mich. - The Adrian College men's volleyball team won its first match of the 2017 season, 3-1 over Wittenberg on Saturday morning. Noah Marcinkowski had a match-high 23 kills to lead the Bulldog offense in the victory. 

THE BASICS

Final Score: Adrian 3, Wittenberg 1 (25-23, 25-20, 28-30, 25-22)

Location: Adrian, Michigan (Merillat Sports and Fitness Center)

Records: Adrian (1-4, 1-4 MCVL), Wittenberg (4-5, 1-1 MCVL)

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set: Adrian 25, Wittenberg 23 (Adrian 1-0)

• With Wittenberg leading 20-14, the Bulldogs scored four straight points and 10 of the next 11 points to jump out to a 24-21 lead.

• Adrian held set point for three volleys before earning the 1-0 lead, 25-23.

• The Bulldogs hit .290 for the first set; the Tigers hit .222.

Second Set: Adrian 25, Wittenberg 20

• Neither team was able to build a larger lead than five points in the second set. The first of the five-point leads came toward the end of the set when Adrian pulled away for a 19-14 lead over Wittenberg.

•  The Tigers cut the lead to three, 19-16, but the Bulldogs were able to rebuild the lead, ending the set with a 25-20 win and a 2-0 lead in sets.

• Adrian's hitting percentage for set two was .273; Wittenberg's .077.

Third Set: Wittenberg 30, Adrian 28

• For the third set, both teams traded points and lead for the majority of the third even taking the set to extras before a winner was decided.

• The Tigers had the first set point, 24-22, however, the Bulldogs rattled off three straight points to earn the set point, 25-24.

• Following a Max Baker kill, Wittenberg, tied the set at 25, before the Bulldogs took another set-point lead on a Marcinkowski kill, 26-25.

• On set point, Adrian had a service error that tied the set back up at 26, but the Tigers would give their own service error back, so the Bulldogs still had set-point at 27-26.

• An Isaiah Brock kill tied the game back up at 27 and an attack error by Adrian gave the Tigers a 28-27 set-point advantage.

• Marcinkowski responded for the Bulldogs with a kill to give Adrian the 28-27 lead and set point again, but Wittenberg was able to score twice to end the set with a 30-28 win and cut the Adrian lead to 2-1 in sets.

• Set three was the Bulldogs' lowest hitting percentage set at .256; Wittenberg had its highest hitting percentage with .417.

Fourth Set: Adrian 25, Wittenberg 22

• Much like the third set, the fourth set went back and forth for most of the fourth.

• Adrian was able to hang on to a three-point lead at the end of the set to earn the set and the match.

TOP DOGS

• Marcinkowski's 23 kills sets an Adrian College men's volleyball record for most kills in a match. He also contributed defensively tying a team-high 13 digs while also recording one assist and a service ace.

• Avery Johnson (13), Kevin Curley (12), and Eduardo Aleman (10) each had double-digit kills for Adrian.

• Joseph Campana paced the Adrian offense with 48 assists. He also tallied 11 digs.

• Curley tied with Marcinkowski for the team-high 13 digs.

THE OPPOSITION

• Carter Schmidt had a team-high 13 kills.

• Noah Wissel (21) and Ross Russell (19) led the team in assists.

• Russell also had a team-high 10 digs.

UP NEXT

• Adrian travels to face Olivet on Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m.