Titans Men’s Volleyball Sweeps at Concordia University Chicago Triangular
The Illinois Wesleyan Men’s Volleyball Team dominated at the Concordia University Chicago Triangular winning both of their matches on Friday night, Jan. 21. With the pair of wins the Titans move back to a .500 record (4-4 overall)
The Titans commenced the night going up against undefeated Adrian College. IWU handed the Bulldogs their first loss of the season by winning in four sets. Winning the first set and losing the second, IWU went on to win the next two and close the match out.
Offensively junior Michael Eastman continued an amazing start to the season by contributing team-high 19 kills on an impressive .545 attack percentage. Eastman’s performance paced the Titan attack as the team had a .352 attack percentage.
Sophomore Jake Kougan had himself a night by contributing career-best 11 kills on a .579 attack percentage. Also contributing on the defensive end, Kougan racked up a game-high four blocks.
Junior and Freshman pair of hitters Julian Perez and Jake Milka had seven kills apiece. While sophomore Vince DiCosola led the team with team-high 28 assists.
On the defensive side, the Titans went into the match ranked ninth in the nation for average blocks per set. The ranking held true as the Green and White put on a defensive clinic. Kougan led the team in blocks with four but right behind him was Perez who had three of his own. Junior Javier Romano finished with two blocks of his own.
The Green and White came out on top leading in kills (49-48), digs (46-44), and blocks (6-2).
A five-set thriller closed out the Triangular for the Titans as they defeated the hosts CUC.
The Titans dropped the first set but went on to rally and win three of the next four and close out the game.
Eastman capped off his night offensively with another double-digit kill game recording 12. Kougan didn’t stray far behind notching 11 kills of his own on 20 total attacks for a .450 attack percentage.
Pair of sophomore hitters Ryan Myers and Luke Hartke added eight and six kills each respectively.
The orchestration of the offense came from the hands of DiCosola and junior Bradley Benson who had 25 and 23 assists respectively.
Up front, IWU’s defense was led by Kougan and Myers who had three blocks a piece. Followed by junior Alec Mucha who had two blocks of his own.
The Titans are back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 7 when they’ll march down to St. Louis, MO. to battle Fontbonne University.