LISLE, Ill.— Cal Lutheran men's volleyball wrapped up its Illinois trip as the Kingsmen defeated Aurora (27-29, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16) before falling to Benedictine (30-28, 25-22, 22-25, 20-25, 15-) on Sunday afternoon.
Cal Lutheran finished its Illinois trip 2-3, including a sweep of No. 6 Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Kingsmen remain at .500 and are 8-8 on the year.
CLU vs. AU
Patrick Rowe led the Kingsmen with 16 kills and Andrew Reina was right behind him with 15 and had a hitting percentage of .419. The Kingsmen hit well on the day, .354, with the highest percentage going to Justin Dietrich. He tallied 13 kills on 16 attempts and hit with a .688 clip.
Blake Zingerman and Jacob Cudiamat combined for 49 assists at the setter position. Zingerman recorded 32 and Cudiamay added 17 more. Defensively, Eli Moore matched his career high of 14 digs while Rowe and Connor Hinthorn were next with six each.
The Spartans grabbed the first set, which took extra points to determine. The Kingsmen shut down the Spartans after that as they rattled off three straight set wins. CLU served six aces, two each coming from Reina and Rowe, and Nick Christy led the way at the net with three block assists, two of which were solo.
After allowing 29 points from the Spartans in the first, the Kingsmen didn't allow them to get 20 in any other set. The loss dropped Aurora to 9-2 overall, as the Kingsmen picked up a good win.
CLU vs. BU
The trio of Reina, Rowe and Dietrich continued to thrive against the Eagles. Both teams scored 20 or more in the first four sets as it came down to the decisive fifth set.
The Kingsmen opened with a 3-0 run as Christy tallied a block, Hinthorn served an ace and Reina and Christy combined for a block. Benedictine answered the call, scoring five straight, forcing Cal Lutheran to call a timeout.
The Eagles kept the run going and made it seven in a row as CLU called another timeout. BU scored 11 straight points in a row to take a commanding lead in the final set. The Kingsmen were not able to recover as the Eagles stole the match after being down 2-0.
Reina was one kill short of his career high and swatted down 20 while adding six digs and four block assists. Rowe was next with 14 kills, with five service aces, and Dietrich tallied 13 kills with a .478 clip.
Christy showed off an all-around game as he tallied eight kills, five digs, four block assists and two aces.
Zingerman tallied his first 50-plus assist match as he dished out 56 in all. He matched the team high of four block assist with Christy, Dietrich and Reina.
For defense, Hinthron had the most for the second straight game with nine. Moore was next with eight, Rowe added seven and Alec Bennett contributed six.
Cal Lutheran returns home after the five-game road trip. The Kingsmen face off with Ottawa (AZ) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 3, AU 1; BU 3, CLU 2
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director
