The Benedictine University men's volleyball team will play at the Dan and Ada Rice Center for the first time in the history of the program this week, hosting three contests. Benedictine will oppose Milwaukee School of Engineering and Loras College as a part of a tri-match on Wednesday before hosting St. Xavier University on Friday.
BenU took the court for the first time on Friday, splitting a pair of matches at MSOE. The Eagles won the first match of the day, defeating Cardinal Stritch University 3-1 despite dropping the first set. In the second match, host MSOE defeated the Eagles 3-1. Setter
Markus Riemer tallied 72 assists in the two matches (9.0 a/set), while
Sterling Glover led the team in kills with 27 (3.38 k/set).
Wednesday: vs. Loras College (0-1), 4:30 p.m.
Benedictine kicks-off the tri-match on Wednesday by hosting the DuHawks of Loras College. Also a first-year program, Loras will compete in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League along with BenU. Wednesday will be the first of three meetings between the two schools and will not count towards MCVL standings.
Loras brings a young roster into its first-ever season, as the team consists of 12 freshmen and two seniors. One of those seniors, outside hitter Michael Kreiser, played three years at NAIA's Clarke University, tallying 237 kills and 199 digs in his career. Loras hosted NAIA's Lindenwood University-Belleville on Friday, falling 3-1 despite Kreiser tallying 19 kills.
Wednesday: vs. MSOE (1-1), 7:30 p.m.
After Loras and MSOE will oppose each other at 6:00 p.m., the Eagles and Raiders will close out the action on Wednesday night. Also members of the MCVL, Wednesday will be the second of four meetings between BenU and MSOE this season. Wednesday's match will also not count for MCVL standings.
In MSOE's victory over BenU on Friday, the two teams split the first two sets before the Raiders took sets three and four 25-17 and 25-19. Nick Manning led the Raiders with 18 kills, while Neil Naughton added 13 with a .276 hitting percentage. The Raiders fell to Cardinal Stritch on Friday night 3-2 before opposing BenU.
Friday: vs. St. Xavier (0-0), 7:30 p.m.
Benedictine will host an NAIA opponent on Friday night when St. Xavier visits the Rice Center. The Chicago school is entering its sixth season as a varsity program and has compiled a 30-97 record (.236) in its history. Last season, the Cougars posted its best winning percentage in program history, going 6-15 (.400).
The Cougars possess a 16-man roster consisting of one senior, two juniors, eight sophomores, and five freshmen. The group of sophomores make up a large part of the team's core, as seven of them saw action at the varsity level last season. Before traveling to Lisle on Friday, the Cougars will open the season on Thursday night by hosting Dominican University.
