QUINCY, Ill. - The Quincy University men's volleyball team took down the defending NAIA national champion, the Park University Pirates, Friday night (Jan. 19).
The Hawks defeated the Pirates in straight sets with scores of 25-19, 25-21, 25-21.
Junior
Shane McAdams led the charge, tallying 14 kills and also added 4 blocks.
The Hawks set the town early, grabbing a 7-3 lead in the first set. QU was able to maintain a comfortable lead throughout the first set holding at least a two-point advantage throughout the entire set.
Costly attack errors and a low hitting percentage by the Pirates allowed for QU to maintain its lead.
The Hawks and Pirates went back and forth in the second set. The score set tied at 8-8 through the early part of set number two.
Attack errors again cost the Pirates in the second set and it allowed for the Hawks to extend the lead to 19-15.
Park, however, took advantage of three straight attack errors by the Hawks to trim the lead to 21-20.
QU answered with a 3-0 run of their own to push the lead back to 24-20. McAdams ended the set on an empathic kill to give the Hawks a 2-0 set lead.
The Hawks again jumped out to an early lead in the third set, going up 8-3 through the first 11 points.
Park continued to chip away at the Hawks lead, eventually bringing the score to 16-15 in favor of QU.
With the score reading 17-16, QU got a pair of kills from Blake Sprecher and
Brandon Davis to extend the lead to 19-16.
The Hawks strong hitting performance in the third set allowed for QU to secure the 25-21 set win.
QU finished the match with 39 kills on 86 attacks while holding Park to just 29 kills on 85 attacks.
McAdams, Sprecher, and Omari Wheeler also combined for 10 service aces in the match.
"I'm very proud of the guys' execution today and their preparation throughout the week. We executed our game plan very well and I'm very happy with how our guys played today against a good Park team." Head coach
Gavin Mueller said of his teams win.
The Hawks improved to 2-0 on the young season. QU travels to St. Charles, Missouri to take on the Lindenwood Lions at 7:00 p.m tomorrow night (Jan. 19).
