Fort Wayne Welcomes Alderson Broaddus and Loras This Weekend

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Fort Wayne men's volleyball team welcomes two nonconference opponents to Arnie Ball Court this weekend (March 2-3) with Alderson Broaddus and Loras.

Gameday Information vs. Alderson Broaddus
WHEN: Friday, March 2 | 7 p.m.
WHERE: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Arnie Ball Court
LIVE STATS: gomastodons.com/stats
LIVE VIDEO: gomastodons.com/watch
LIVE AUDIO: gomastodons.com/listen
Play-by-Play: Mike Maahs
SERIES HISTORY: Fort Wayne leads 2-0
LAST MEETING: Fort Wayne 3, Alderson Broaddus 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-21) | Jan. 22, 2017 | Phillipi, W.V.

Gameday Information vs. Loras
WHEN: Saturday, March 3 | 3 p.m.
WHERE: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Arnie Ball Court
LIVE STATS: gomastodons.com/stats
LIVE VIDEO: gomastodons.com/watch
LIVE AUDIO: gomastodons.com/listen
Play-by-Play: Mike Maahs
SERIES HISTORY: Fort Wayne leads 1-0
LAST MEETING: Fort Wayne 3, Loras 0 (25-19, 25-10, 25-17) | March 6, 2015 | Fort Wayne, Ind.

Scouting Fort Wayne
The Mastodons are 11-4, 3-3 MIVA heading into the break from conference play. Heading into the five-game stretch of nonconference matches, Fort Wayne is led by Pelegrin Vargas with 208 kills and Kolbie Knorr with 117 digs. The Mastodons are receiving votes in the AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll.

Scouting Alderson Broaddus
The Battlers come to Fort Wayne with a 3-11 record, picking up five-set wins over Lees-McRae and Queens, and a three-setter over Queens. ABU has four common opponents with Fort Wayne (Saint Francis, Penn State, Lees-McRae, Emmanuel), in which the Battlers are 1-3. Francisco Cabrera leads ABU with 3.02 kills per set and Timothy McIntosh leads with 2.31 digs per set.

Scouting Loras
Loras is 8-5, 1-1 MCVL record, but will have a match against Benedictine before coming to Fort Wayne. The Duhawks are led by Dylan Ross, who holds 109 kills on the year, and Blair Anderson leads with 122 digs. Fort Wayne will be Loras' only Division I opponent this season.

Double Trouble
Michael Keegan has five double-doubles on the season after a 42 assist/18 dig performance at Quincy. He pushed his career double-double total to 13, with 10 of them coming on the road.

Victory Won't Wait For the Nation That's Late
Fort Wayne has six more wins than last season, just 15 matches through the year. This is the most improved in the nation from the 2017 season to this season. Only four programs in the country have matched or passed their win totals from 2017 through this point in the 2018 season. UC San Diego, Quincy and Lindenwood are the other programs that have done so. All three have one more win in 2018 than 2017.

Dig Your Heels In
Junior transfer Kolbie Knorr had a career-high 21 digs in his return to his former institution, Quincy on Feb. 24. This is the most digs in a match by any player in the MIVA this season. Knorr's 21 digs was only two short of the Fort Wayne single-match record of 23, which was set by Mike Morici in 2005 at Quincy and matched by Luis Bertran in 2015 at Limestone. Knorr had seven of his digs in the fifth set against the Hawks.

Career Night
Sophomore Pelegrin Vargas had a career-high 24 kills against Loyola on Feb. 16. Vargas' kill breakdown in the match by set was seven, three, seven, five and two. This is the most kills in a MIVA match this season by any individual. His previous career-high was 22 in a five-set win at Quincy in 2017. That was the match prior to his last match of 2017 before falling to injury.

Bringing Out the Brooms
Six of Fort Wayne's first seven victories this season were sweeps. The Mastodons only dropped one set in January in a 3-1 win over Harvard.

Seeking 600
Fort Wayne is only four wins short of reaching 600 program victories. The 500th win came in 2011 by way of a 3-0 win over Carthage.

Last Time Out
Fort Wayne left Quincy with a 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 26-24, 15-9) win in a defensive battle at Quincy. The Mastodons had 68 digs, which is the most in a match by any MIVA team this season. Kolbie Knorr and Michael Keegan both had career-highs, with 21 and 18 digs respectively.

Next Time Up
The Mastodons head to California for a three-match week over Spring Break. The 'Dons will play UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Concordia Irvine from March 7-10. All three of those teams have spent time in the Top 15 this season.

AVCA Top 15 'Dons
Fort Wayne moved into the AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll on January 29, coming in at No. 15. The Mastodons were ranked for the first time since April 20, 2015, which was also a spot at No. 15.

Chip Off the Old Block
Fort Wayne had 19.5 team blocks against McKendree on Feb. 7, which was the first time a Mastodon squad had that number or more since 2006. The 'Dons had 23 blocks in a four set match at Ball State on March 18, and were led by 10 blocks from both Serdar Sikca and Josh Stewart.

One of Three
Fort Wayne was one of just three programs in the country with an undefeated record through the month of January. No. 1 Long Beach State was 9-0 and Charleston was 3-0. Charleston later dropped a match to Ohio State, but Long Beach remains unbeaten.

Eight is Great
Fort Wayne started the season with eight straight wins, which tied the longest win-streak to start the season in program history. The other season that the Mastodons had eight straight to start was 2007. The 'Dons started 8-0 just one season after starting 0-8 in 2017.

Keegan Player of the Week Times Two
Michael Keegan was named MIVA Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season on February 6. He earned this distinction behind double-figure digs at (RV) Saint Francis and No. 9 Penn State. He also added seven block assists for the weekend. Keegan and Tomas Gago earned three of the first five available MIVA Defensive Player of the Week awards.

Gago Player of the Week
Tomas Gago was the recipient of the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week for the week of January 23. Gago had 14 blocks over two matches against Harvard and Sacred Heart, averaging two per set. In addition to his defensive performance, he also contributed 11 kills, with a perfect 6 for 6 against SHU. Because of this, he earned the Off the Block/Springbak Inc. National Freshman of the Week.

Keegan Player of the Week
Michael Keegan was the recipient of the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week for the week of January 16. Keegan earned this honor behind a 22-dig weekend at Princeton and NJIT. He had 17 digs and two block assists against the Tigers. Keegan also chipped in five digs in the Mastodons' 3-0 win at NJIT.

Sweeping Start
Fort Wayne started the season with four straight sweeps. This is the first time in program history that Fort Wayne started the season with four straight victories without dropping a set. The four-match stretch is the longest streak of sweeps since 2007, when the Mastodons had six straight, including three matches in the MIVA tournament.

Hot Hitting at Princeton
The Mastodons had hot hands at Princeton, ending the night with a .522 hitting clip. Tomas Gago led the 'Dons with a .700 clip, followed by Pelegrin Vargas (.615), Colton Stone (.375) and Tony Price (.364). Richie Diedrich had five kills on five attempts for a perfect 1.000 and Michael Keegan also had a kill on his only attempt. Keegan dished out 32 assists, and the 'Dons recorded 40 total assists on 41 kills.

Winning Big Over Emmanuel
Fort Wayne's win over Emmanuel had a 29-point differential in favor of the Mastodons. This was Fort Wayne's largest differential in a three-set match since 2015, when the 'Dons defeated Loras. That match also had a 29-point differential.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Fort Wayne Welcomes Alderson Broaddus and Loras This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Richie Diedrich

Tomas Gago

Michael Keegan

Kolbie Knorr

Tony Price

Colton Stone

Pelegrin Vargas

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics