LEBANON, Ill. - In their eighth conference match against a nationally ranked opponent this season, the Hawks nearly came away with their second such victory of the year, taking No. 11 McKendree to its breaking point in a tough five-set defeat (25-20, 17-25, 25-19, 25-27, 16-18).

Quincy got strong efforts from all around the squad in the upset bid.  AJ Goedheer and Aleksandar Sosa led the Hawks with 21 and 20 kills, respectively. Sosa also led the team with seven blocks, while Goedheer tied for a team-high two aces while his 21 kills set a new career mark. 

Hawks setter, Dylan Feely stepped up in a big way. Coming into the match with just 16 sets played on the season, before recording a double-double of assists (52) and digs (10) in the match, also marking the highest single-match assist total of the season while adding two aces. 

Victor Scherer collected 25 digs for a new career-high, leading the Hawks to a season-best 68 digs in the match as a team.

Zackary Zdrojeski made his presence known, finishing just a kill short of a double-double with nine terminations and a career-high 10 digs to go with three blocks. 

Relja Milosavljevic continued his strong blocking performance this season, collecting six blocks in the match to keep him firmly inside the top three in the country in blocks per set, as the Kraljevo, Serbia native has been for much of the year. 


Set One 

An even split of the first 18 points to a 9-9 tie gave way to a pair of two-point Quincy runs to make it 13-10.

McK worked its way back to a draw later in the set at 14-14, before a trading of the next six points to a 17-17 score prompted a five-point Hawks run to burst ahead 22-17 late. 

QU traded the next six points to a set victory, as a Zdrojeski kill sealed the 25-20 first set triumph. 

Set Two 

The Bearcats pounced on the Hawks early in the second set, quickly doubling up Quincy to a 12-6 score. 

A three-point run formed the QU response to halve the deficit, forcing a five-point McKendree response short after to rebuild the advantage to 18-10, then going on to take the set soon after 25-17. 

Set Three 

A Tomas Badan kill and an error found Quincy leading 5-2 early, until a three-point Hawks run later in the set propelled the lead even further to 11-6. 

McK worked its way back to within three points at the 13-10 mark, bringing about a QU response of three more to rebuild the lead to 16-10, not allowing the Bearcats any closer than four points the rest of the way while stretching the edge to as many as eight points, eventually claiming the set 25-19 on a Sosa kill. 

Set Four 

Six of the first nine points went in favor of the Hawks for an early double up at 6-3, until McKendree was able to equalize at 8-8 soon after. Later in the set at 10-10, a five-point swing from the Bearcats found Quincy trailing 15-10.

McK continued it's strong play in the late stages of the set, still holding a six-point advantage at the 23-17 mark, until the Hawks erased the deficit with six straight scores to even the tally at 23-23. 

QU was able to equalize again at both 24-24 and 25-25, but couldn't get over the hump in a tight 27-25 loss in the fourth. 

Set Five

After falling behind 4-3 to open the set, McKendree ripped off five straight points to jump ahead 8-4. 

The Bearcats remained in the drivers seat, until the Hawks returned the favor with a five-point run of their own to move in front 12-11. Following a McK point, an error and a Sosa kill put QU a point away from victory at 14-12. 

Following two Bearcats points, an error afforded Quincy another chance to take the match up 15-14, just as another Sosa kill did two points later at 16-15, but it just wasn't meant to be, as McKendree used a three-point run to close a hard-fought 18-16 set, and 3-2 match win. 

Next Up 

The Hawks look forward to next weekend, as the Buckeyes of Ohio State University come to town for a pair of MIVA matches to round out the regular season.

QU faces off with OSU at 7:00 PM on Friday evening (Apr. 11), before playing the Hawks' final match in Pepsi Arena as a MIVA member on Senior Day Saturday evening (Apr. 12) at 5:00 PM against the Buckeyes.