BUFFALO, N.Y. – The D'Youville University Saints Men's Volleyball team hosted Sacred Heart University on Friday night at the College Center falling 3-0 to the NEC opponent.  

D'Youville University 0 vs Sacred Heart University 3 – 22-25, 22-25, 23-25
Set One
The match began close with the Pioneers taking the 5-4 lead and then going on a three-point run. The Saints fought to stay in the set and after a three-point run of their own trailed by two at 16-18. The Pioneers kept pushing on, but with the score at 23-19 in Sacred Heart's favor, the Saints went another three-point run featuring kills from Ian De Wilde (Lockport, N.Y. / Starpoint) and Tymek Brzoza (Tychy, Poland) to bring the score to 23-22. The Pioneers recorded the last two points of the set winning 25-22.

Set Two
The match started evenly with D'Youville holding the close lead at 5-4 following a kill from Kristian Smith (Zebulon, N.C. / Franklin Academy). Sacred Heart worked their way back and tied the game at nine. Sacred Heart put together a series of runs to jump up 18-14 and continued to climb until they led 21-15. Back-to-back kills from Shaun Vattakuzhiyil (Sugar Land, TX / Elkins) kept the Saints in the set. As the Pioneers reached 24, Ethan Robinson (Toronto, Canada) and Tymek Brzoza put a series of kills together to keep the Saints alive, but the Pioneers would take the last point of the set to win 25-22.

Set Three
Set three started the same as the first two with Sacred Heart holding the close lead at 9-7. A kill from Ian De Wilde and a Pioneers error tied the set at nine, but Sacred Heart kept the pressure on continuing to retake the lead each time the Saints tied it up. The back and forth went on until the Pioneers held the 20-17 lead. Two kills from Vattakuzhiyil and a Pioneers error brought the Saints within one at 21-20, but the Pioneers refused to give up the lead. Ian De Wilde recorded two final kills for the Saints before they would fall 25-23 in the third set and give the Pioneers the 3-0 win in the match.

Saints Stats
Ian De Wilde again led the Saints in offense wit 12 kills while Randy Adorno (Bayamon, Puerto Rico / Winter Park) recorded 34 assists and seven digs. The Saints recorded 41 kills in the match compared to the Pioneers 38 but were outscored 5-0 in serving aces.   

Up Next
The D'Youville Men's Volleyball team is back home tomorrow, Saturday, April 13th for Senior Day against NEC opponent Merrimack College. The match is scheduled for 4:00 PM with the Senior Day ceremony scheduled just before the start.