OLIVET, Mich. - At the Cutler Event Center, the Adrian men's volleyball team turned in its best offensive performance of the season en route to a three-set sweep of the homestanding Comets.
Behind a three-set season-high 44 kills, the Bulldogs finished with a 0.337 attack percentage, their best single-match mark of 2022. This includes an incredible final set, in which the 'Dogs hit for over 50 percent compared to Olivet's 0.094.
The locals spread the wealth offensively. Led by
Chase Heuer's 13 kills, eight different Bulldogs contributed successful attacks, while as a team, Adrian closed the match with a season-low 13 attack-errors.
Though the final result of the match looked likes a clean sweep, it was not an easy outing for the 'Dogs. In the opening set, despite a solid 5-2 Adrian run to start things off, the two sides were eventually trading jabs at one another down to the final point. The visitors even led 20-17 later on in the frame, but the Comets came right back to take the set past its usual 25-point maximum.
Nevertheless, with the score knotted at 24-24, back-to-back kills by Heuer secured a one-set lead for Adrian.
While the middle set did not last quite as long as the previous, the action still carried well down the stretch. Again leading 20-17, the Bulldogs needed to fend off a late rally by Olivet. The home side rattled together three of the next four points to pull within one, but a subsequent three-point run by the black and gold, including two kills by
Branden Gula and
Andrew Gawrisch, put them in the driver's seat moving forward.
The evening's final set was not as much of a challenge for Adrian, as it raced out to a 14-6 lead following a 9-1 run. That was all the momentum that the Bulldogs needed, rolling on to a 25-14 set-win to clinch their second three-set victory of the season.
Brandon Ravelo paced all setters with 36 assists, and Gawrisch led the local's back line with seven digs.
With Friday evening's results, Adrian secures its third conference win of 2022, and will look for number four on the first day of April against Fontbonne University.
