ST.-MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. – The St. Mary-of-the-Woods men's volleyball team dropped the first set against visiting Aquinas (Mich.), but came roaring back with win in the next three sets to take the victory (18-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-21).
The Pomeroys improved to 16-15, 4-13 WHAC while Aquinas fell to 3-21, 1-16 WHAC. Notably, the Woods secured at least a .500 campaign in just the program's second year.
Marko Zolnjan led the way 18 kills and a .282 attack percentage. Manase Fetulimoeata recorded nine kills in the contest. Ethan Martins paced the Pomeroys with 41 set assists while Jalen Noveda added 16 digs.
Aquinas took the first set by the score of 25-18 as they raced out to a quick advantage and the Pomeroys could not climb back into it. That was the not the story in set two as an early 3-0 run from The Woods capped by a service ace by Marko Zolnjan staked SMWC to an early 7-3 lead. Four points in a followed an Aquinas score including a kill from Manase Fetulimoeata for the 11-4 cushion.
After a kill from Andrej Lindner made it 18-12, Aquinas got a point back but Zoljan recorded the kill to make it 19-13. Ethan Martins recorded a kill to make it 23-16 as the Woods continued to inch towards set point. Fetulimoeata gave the Pomeroys the victory with a kill and the 25-18 victory to knot the contest at one set each.
SMWC would take a 10-5 lead in the third set based on the strength of three attack errors in a row from Aquinas. They extended the spurt and the cushion to 11-5 on another attack error before finally surrendering a point. Aquinas would use a four-point run to get back into the contest but Yammiel Martinez recorded the kill to push the lead out to 17-12.
A Zolnjan kill broke an early tie and staked the Pomeroys to a 9-8 advantage. Christian Green was then credited with a kill to push the lead out to two points. Zolnjan recorded a thunderous kill midway through the set to make it 15-14 and break another stalemate in the back-and-forth set. After taking advantage of an attack error, Julian Green recorded a kill to make it 19-17 and force an Aquinas timeout. Green came back with another kill and Szadorski posted a block to grow the advantage further. All told, the 5-0 run made it 22-17 before a service error cost the Pomeroys a point. Blocks by Martinez and Zolnjan captured the victory by the score of 25-21.
The Pomeroys compete in their season finale when they host Aquinas (Mich.) on Saturday (April 13) inside the Knoerle Center. First serve is set for 3 pm (ET).
