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Purdue Fort Wayne
St. Francis
Mastodons Sweep Red Flash
2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 20, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN – After taking a large lead in the first set, the IPFW men’s volleyball team (7-3) maintained its intensity and fought off a tough Saint Francis squad (7-5) to win 3-0 (30-23, 30-28, 30-27) Friday night at the Hilliard Gates Sports Center.
Sophomore outside hitter Darryl Shank collected 26.5 points and hit a career high 23 markers (23-4-41) leading the Mastodons. Fellow sophomore Ben Duckworth hit 10 kills (seven in the deciding set), while junior Oliver Kook hit nine daggers from the middle (9-1-11) to hit .727. Juniors Nathaniel Berg and setter Corey Stewart had five and four kills respectively, while freshman outside Phil Peterson hit two kills.
Stewart had a career night with 41 assists including 15 in the second frame. Duckworth led all players with eight digs, while Shank had six and junior libero Matt Pliske had five. Berg led the ‘Dons with five block assists.
The win was the third in a row for IPFW and the second straight 3-0 victory.
IPFW got things rolling quickly jumping out to a 3-0 lead thanks to kills by Duckworth and Shank and an error by SFU’s Jordan Varee. The Saint Francis Red Flash got hot however and tied things back up at four. The ‘Dons found themselves down twice at 7-8 and again at 8-9, but two SFU errors gave IPFW the one point lead which soon became eight. After being up four at 20-16 IPFW went on a 4-0 run. The last two points of the run were aces by Duckworth who logged three on the night. IPFW led by as many as nine at 28-19, but didn’t end the set as quickly as planned forcing IPFW head coach Arnie Ball to call the ‘Dons first timeout at 28-22. After the timeout, SFU’s Varee found the floor with a kill, but it was Shank who answered and gave the ‘Dons game point. Saint Francis hit an attack error to give IPFW game one, 30-23.
Set two was much closer and included 25 ties and 12 lead changes. IPFW’s first lead came at 10-9 thanks to service ace from Duckworth. The ‘Dons attempted to gain ground leading 12-10, but the Red Flash jumped right back with three straight points. The second stanza’s first timeout was at 25-23 when IPFW broke the tie and took its lead of two again. SFU jumped back at 25-25 forcing the ‘Dons to use a timeout of their own. There would be one more tie, but it was Shank who connected on the last three Mastodon kills in an exciting set two ending 30-28.
After the intermission the ‘Dons took the first point on a kill from Duckworth, but fell down early forcing Ball to use both Mastodon timeouts by the time the scoreboard read 3-7 in favor of SFU. The ‘Dons then answered the call, going on a 6-2 run and knotting things up at 9-9. The Red Flash continued to push however, taking a two point lead at 13-11, and 15-13. IPFW stayed aggressive though and kept things close until a 2-0 run by IPFW gave the ‘Dons the lead at 24-23, and forced Red Flash coach Mike Rumbaugh to call his last timeout. IPFW never trailed again. When the ‘Dons led by only one at 27-26, a SFU dig came across the net to IPFW’s side only to be put down in commanding fashion by Berg, 28-26. IPFW sealed the match on a SFU attack error, 30-27.
Varee led the Red Flash with 22 kills and setter Shane Conley collected 39 assists in the effort.
The Mastodons welcome No. 1 Penn State to the Hilliard Gates Sports Center Saturday night. Match time is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
~Dons~
