THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - St. Norbert College picked up perhaps its biggest win in the young history of the men's volleyball program with a 3-1 victory over Lasell University at the Cal-Lu-Fornia Invitational at California Lutheran University.
The Green Knights (7-12) topped the Lasers (10-9) by scores of 25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21. Lasell was a 22-win team last season.
St. Norbert fell behind 1-0 in Set 1 but never trailed the rest of the stanza after scoring the next four points to take a 4-1 lead. The set was tied 17-17 before the Green Knights went on a 6-1 run to take control.
Jake Bettag and
Jake Krueger each had a pair of blocks, while Bettag had a kill during the run. Bettag's kill sealed the set win.
The Green Knights never trailed in Set 2 and were tied just once at 6-6. St. Norbert went on a 7-1 run to take a 13-7 lead, getting two kills from
Owen Knezevich and another from
Kade Nelson. The Lasers got to within 18-14 but the Green Knights got another kill from Knezevich and two from
Barry Applewhite during a quick 4-0 run and a 22-14 lead. Bettag again finished the set win with a kill.
Set 3 featured 10 ties, the final one at 20-20. The Green Knights trailed 22-21 and 23-22 but couldn't get back to even to force a deuce set. Set 4 was tied 10-10 before the Green Knights went on another key run with a 5-1 spurt behind two kills from Krueger and one from Knezevich for a 15-11 lead. Lasell would rally to tie the set at 19-19 but St. Norbert went on a 3-0 run to get some breathing room. A block from Bettag and
Michael Whitney on the second match point locked up the win.
St. Norbert tied a school record with 13 blocks, with Bettag setting an individual school record with nine blocks and Krueger posted seven. The Green Knights hit .267 - the third-best match mark in program history - with 47 kills against 16 errors in 116 attempts. Bettag and Knezevich had 11 kills apiece, while Applewhite had nine and Krueger eight. Whitney totaled 20 assists and
Eddie Pacula had 18. Knezevich had two service aces.
Ryan Conway had 11 digs, while
Boston Peck finished with nine.
Lasell hit .080 with 47 kills and 36 errors in 138 swings. Jordan Shinaut led the Lasers with 19 kills.
