ROCHESTER, N.Y. – With the East Coast Conference Championship on the line, the Roberts Wesleyan University men's volleyball team came up aces.
The top-seeded Redhawks served up 10 aces while rallying from an early one-set deficit to defeat two-time defending champion Saint Thomas Aquinas College in four sets to claim their first ECC title on Saturday afternoon in the Voller Athletic Center.Â
Sophomore
Landon Brouwer paced Roberts (20-10) with four aces, freshman
Jayce Moore came through with three and
Ryan DeJohn,
Jordan Hoover and
Gavin Terp each had one as the Redhawks won by set scores of 24-26, 25-18, 25-14 and 25-21.
"I just think that them going back, relaxing and being able to execute was the difference," said Roberts head coach Mike Dedee, whose team finished second to the Spartans last season. "It's a huge accomplishment for the guys. Before the game I told them to do what you have been doing all year and that the outcomes would happen and they came through. I am so proud of them."
The victory was the Redhawks' second over STAC in eight days. Roberts trailed STAC by two sets in the regular-season finale on April 18 before rallying for a reverse sweep to secure the top seed and the right to host the ECC Championships.
Roberts, which is in its third year as a program, won just two of the first 22 sets it played against STAC but has now won six of the last seven. Saturday's match was statistically close in several categories, but the 10-0 discrepancy in aces was monumental.
"Our nothing-to-lose attitude is what carried us," said DeJohn, who had 13 kills on Saturday and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. "We just came out and played and put it all on the line."
The Redhawks also put the work in during the week, both in the film room and on the practice court.
"We watch a lot of film and then we work on the things that we see on film in practice," said senior
Moises Jimenez, the three-time ECC Libero of the Year who led Roberts with 15 digs. "If we don't do things right, we keep practicing until we do because you play like you practice."
Brouwer set for 38 assists and junior
Paul Fillion added 13 kills, eight digs and four blocks for the Redhawks.
Moore contributed eight kills and 10 digs while Terp added five blocks and Hoover seven digs and four blocks. All three players are freshmen.
After narrowly dropping the first set, Roberts rolled through the second and third and built an 18-13 lead in the fourth before STAC rallied to score seven of the next eight points and take a 20-19 advantage.
Roberts responded to score the next four points, including three with Hoover serving, and closed out the match when the Spartans committed a service error and Terp and
Connor Latta teamed up for a block to set off an enthusiastic celebration in the VAC.
Roberts closed the season with eight straight victories and set a program record with 20 wins. Talent played a large part in the team's success, as did team chemistry.
"We are like a carton of eggs, we are aways together," Jimenez said. "We eat breakfast together, we eat lunch together and we hang out all the time. We are just always together."
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