CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - The Quincy University men's volleyball team rounded out its trip east with a stop at Thomas More University to take on the Saints. The Hawks continued their fine run of fine form, taking the match in three sets (25-18, 26-24, 25-16) for the third sweep in as many matches to open the 2024 campaign led by 16 kill effort from Raje Alleyne. 

Set One

After surrendering the first point of the match, QU took four of the next five to open a 4-2 advantage thanks to a couple of TMU errors and kills from Alleyne and Aleksandar Sosa. The Hawks maintained a narrow advantage until a pair of errors and another kill from Alleyne spread the lead to 10-6. 

The Saints came back to within a point shortly after at 11-10 and once again at 15-14 after trailing 14-10, but Quincy did not falter, weathering the storm until a four-point run put the Hawks ahead 19-14. Kills from Sosa and Logan Gieseke sandwiched around back-to-back aces from Alleyne fueled the run and put QU in prime position to go on and close out a 25-18 victory in the first set. 

Set Two

Thomas More jumped out to a 2-0 advantage before kills from Sosa and Alleyne evened the tally. Alleyne traded kills with TMU for the next six points, collecting four of the Hawks first five points to knot the score at 5-5. 

Later in the set, Quincy was the first to break the back-and-forth scoring, taking four straight at 9-9 to build the first lead larger than two for either side at 13-9. Later in the set at 15-11, a five-point regained the lead for the Saints at 16-15. 

Trailing 20-18, kills from Keegan Cary and Alleyne along with an error and TMU point made it 21-21. Thomas More took three of the next four to force set point 24-22, but four straight Hawk points on a kill from Zackary Zdrojeski, a block from Logan Brouwer and two errors propelled QU to the slim 26-24 win. 

Set Three

In stark contrast to the back-and-forth affair in the prior set, the third set saw Quincy pull away early for good. Up 4-3, a six-point rally for the Hawks busted the set open early making it 10-3. 

QU put it in cruise control for the remainder of the set, trading points and maintaining the large lead it built early in the frame. Quincy didn't string together a run longer than two points from the 10-3 mark until the 22-16 mark, where the Hawks took the final three points on another kill from Alleyne and two errors for a 25-16 set and 3-0 match winner. 

The 3-0 start for Quincy marks the best kickoff to a season for the Hawks since 2021, where QU also played the minimum nine sets to open the season 3-0 with three sweeps. 

Next up for the Hawks is some home cooking as QU kicks off a six-game home stand with an exhibition contest against Park University on Tuesday (Jan. 19). First serve from Pepsi Arena is slated for 6:00 PM.