Men's Volleyball Gets Historic Win in First Game of the NAIA Pool Play
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Reinhardt (GA)
29-1
|
33 | 21 | 26 | 27 | 3 |
|
OUAZ
19-7
|
31 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 1 |
Team Stats
OUAZ
| Game Statistics | Reinhardt (GA) | OUAZ |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .258 | .285 |
| Blocks | 7.0 | 7.5 |
| Digs | 46 | 48 |
| Aces | 7 | 8 |
Cedar Rapids, IA - Reinhardt Men's Volleyball makes history for their young program by knocking off the #4 ranked team in the NAIA, Ottawa University Arizona (OUAZ). Reinhardt was coming into the NAIA Tournament unranked - just outside the Top 15 in the receiving votes position. They were seeded as the #12 team of a twelve-team playoff system. This was an upset to outsiders, but the Reinhardt Men have been on 24 24-game win streak and only lost to Webber University earlier in the season. All the sets were tight with the Eagles just losing the second set and the outcome, 3-1.
The set scores were 33-31 in the first, 21-25 in the second, 26-24 in the third, and 27-25 in the final deciding set. The sets could not be any closer as both teams pushed for the three-set win.
Leading the way for the Eagles were Rodolfo Biegelmeyer and Gabriel Gutierez with 17 and 12 kills respectively, however, they both had errors that brought their kill percentages down. Victor Pacheco and Jakub Aniolczyk "Kuba" had the best kill-to-error ratios with Pacheco recording 6 kills to just one error and Kuba with 4 kills to zero errors. All the big men for Reinhardt kept them in striking distance in the four sets and they made the most of the errors by OUAZ.
Bruno Dewes and Ricardo Mujica led the way for the Eagles with assisting the kills. Dewes ended the day with 24 total and Mujica had 17.
Alex Sanchez led the way for the Eagles defensively with 13 digs followed closely by Dewes and Gutierez who had 10 and 8 digs respectively.
Biegelmeyer, Dewes, and Sanchez all had two service aces each in the game.
The Eagles will enjoy their win for the day, but they will have to quickly move focus to their next opponent in the NAIA Pool Play. Their next opponent is William Penn who is currently ranked #5 in the tournament. It will be another tough task for the Eagles, however, this team has shown that they can play with anyone. The game is scheduled for 5 pm EST and can be seen (pay-per-View) at the following link: