DE PERE - St. Norbert College opened its first-ever home men's volleyball tournament with a pair of wins, topping UW-Stevens Point 3-0 and The University of Olivet 3-2 at Mulva Family Fitness & Sports Center.

The Green Knights (5-4) topped the Pointers 25-0, 25-0, 28-26 and then eked out a 25-20, 25-14, 20-25, 21-25, 15-13 win over Olivet.

St. Norbert won the first two sets against Stevens Point by walkover on an arcane rule where if a team is not properly equipped - in this case the Pointers had forgotten their uniforms back in Stevens Point - a set is forfeited. After an allotted time, the next set is forfeited. With the clock running on the third set, the uniforms arrived and the match got underway.

The third set featured 15 ties and six lead changes. The Green Knights had a pair of match points at 24-23 and 25-24 before the Pointers took a 26-25 lead for a match point of their own. A Jackson Corcoran kill, a Kade Nelson block and a Pointers attack error closed out the win.

St. Norbert hit .150 in the match, with 12 kills against six errors in 40 attacks. Kaden Kornaus had four kills, while Owen Knezevich had three. Michael Whitney had eight assists. Nelson finished with three blocks, while Whitney had two. Ryan Conway totaled six digs.

Against Olivet, the Green Knights eked out a win in a match that featured 39 tie scores and 16 lead changes.

St. Norbert trailed 15-13 in Set 1 and came back to lead 19-18 before going on a 5-1 run to get some breathing room and win. The Green Knights hit .435 in the second set and took a 10-8 lead out to 18-8 on an 8-0 run. Olivet rallied to win the third set and then finished the fourth set on a 5-1 run to snap a 20-20 tie.

The Green Knights led the fifth set 9-7 before the Comets came back on a 4-1 run for an 11-9 lead. St. Norbert then ripped off three-straight points to take a 12-11 lead after an Olivet service error, a Kornaus kill and an Olivet error. The set was tied 13-13 when Kornaus had a big kill and then Knezevich followed with a block to give the Green Knights a happy ending.

St. Norbert tied a school record with 61 kills, posting a .265 hitting percentage with 20 errors in 155 attacks. Knezevich had 17 kills, while Kornaus totaled 16. Whitney had 40 assists, while Zach Hanse had two service aces. Conway had 16 digs and Kornaus added 12. Logan Crowther totaled four blocks, while Kornaus had two.