Late into the second set, the Norse are up 24-16 as Saint Francis has the serve. Setter for the Red Flash Brayden Kuruzovich jumps up in the air, “whack,” as the ball flies through the air, finding junior Griffin Wheatley, who pops the volley up in the air.
Nick Whitley gets under the ball and sets it backwards to Will McElveen. McElveen flies high in the air and winds up his arm, “ Boom,” hitting the ball with authority. Saint Francis tries to retreat back and dig it up, but slips on the bump, hitting the floor.
The crowd on their feet goes wild as the Norse win their first-ever set in program history. Even though the Norse tied it all up at one, the red flash dashed to the victory, winning the next two sets 3-1.
McElveen led the Norse with 13 kills, three blocks and three digs. Alongside him, Juanmarco Diaz was effective on both sides of the ball, having eight digs and eight kills on a team-high .600 hitting percentage. Wheatley and Matt Cosgrove also had eight kills. Whitley was passing the ball from all over the court, finishing with 38 assists to go along with five digs.
In the first set, the Norse scored quickly, as in the first rally, SFU had an attack error, giving NKU its first-ever point. Following that mistake, Saint Francis got NKU right back, going on a 5-0 run. The Norse would go on a 3-0 with two kills by Wheatley to keep them in it, but the Red Flash just kept topping their runs of their own.
The Norse tried to fight back, going on a little spirit of their own, cutting it within four, but once again Saint Francis got the last laugh with a kill by Brady Stump to end the first set, 25-20.
Northern Kentucky started the second set with authority. In the first rally, Adam Blair smashed the ball into the ground for a monster kill, bringing life to Regents Hall. After that, NKU and SFU traded rallies back and forth until the Norse swooped in to take a two-point lead and never looked back.
The Norse brought the heat and kept piling on to their lead until McElveen finished out the set with a kill that was irretrievable, grabbing their first-ever set win in program history.
In the third set, it was a battle with no team gaining a true lead over the other. Ryan Peterson tied it all up at 20 with a kill, but with many big blows and Attack errors, SFU rolled the 25-22 victory.
In the fourth and final set, it was similar to the third set, where both teams kept matching each other coming down to the wire. With the game
hanging in the balance 24-22, Diaz spiked the ball to the floor, gaining a point for the Norse, 24-23. Even with the Norse fighting hard, a block from Saint Francis called game winning the set 25-23 and winning the game 3-1.
Even with the loss, Head Coach of the Norse, Jim Palilonis, believes that this game is a start of something good.
“It’s just the start of what we’ve been putting in, the hard work, and what we’ve been waiting for. It’s just the beginning, a lot of nerves, a lot of first-time figuring things out,” Palilonis said, “So on my end, I’ve got to get better. I’ve got to make better decisions. We’ll figure it out. I’m not worried at all. I’m really impressed and proud of what these guys did today.”
More than 480 fans showed up for the first-ever men’s volleyball match in program history, and Palilonis thought the turnout and the energy of the fans were awesome.
“There’s always that nervous energy of, is anybody going to show up, and seeing the turnout we had was tremendous. I couldn’t be happier. And I know the word’s gonna spread, and we’re gonna get more people. They’ll tell their friends, and I think it’s like I’ve been telling everybody, but it’s an exciting product. It’s fun to watch.” Palilonis said, “If you come to one match, you’re gonna want to come back again. We’re trying to build this into a volleyball community, in a volleyball school. Liz has done such a great job with the women. We want to kind of parlay that momentum and again, build this into a great volleyball program.”