The Benedictine University men's volleyball team made history by winning the first match of the 2015 inaugural season, a four-set thriller over Cardinal Stritch University. The Eagles dropped the second match, 3-1 to Milwaukee School of Engineering.

After getting their nerves out in an 18-25 first set loss to Cardinal Stritch (1-1), Benedictine (1-1) went on to win the next three sets.

In the second set, the Eagles were down 13-19 before going on a 6-2 run that included kills from Eric Tarnow, Sterling Glover and Markus Riemer to put BenU within striking distance. With the set tied at 22, a Tarnow kill and two CSU attack errors gave BenU the 25-23 win.

The Eagles took a 10-6 lead in the second set but Cardinal Stritch never gave up, coming back to tie the set at 23. A Riemer kill and a Tarnow and Zach Loeding block secured the 25-23 Eagle victory.

In the fourt set, the Eagles trailed early but came back to tie it at 12. A back and forth battle saw BenU hit .343 with 14 kills while the set ended with a kill from Loeding and an ace from Jake Moran.

Glover led all players with 17 kills and also had 11 digs. Tarnow tallied 11 kills and five block assists while Riemer had 41 assists and 16 digs. Loeding led all blockers with eight assists and also had five kills. Moran had 15 digs and five kills.

As a team, BenU had 48 kills, 65 digs and 13 blocks.

In the second match, BenU fell 3-1 to MSOE (23-25, 25-21, 17-25, 19-25). After a close first set that saw the Eagles come from behind to almost win, BenU took the second set 25-21, out-hitting the Raiders with 10 kills and just four errors.

MSOE's offense proved too much for BenU as they went on to win the next two sets.

Glover again led the team with 10 kills and also had seven digs while Riemer recorded 31 assists and eight digs. Ian Thompson led BenU with 10 digs while Loeding had four kills and two solo blocks.

Men's volleyball begins their home slate of the 2015 shedule on Wednesday, January 21 when they host a tri-match with Loras College and MSOE.