The Aurora University men's volleyball team went 1-1 in their Friday matches at the California Lutheran Invite. The Spartans lost their first match to University of California Santa Cruz in four sets, (17-25, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25). The Spartans then got their win against Marymount University in another four set match (25-21, 17-25, 22-25, 23-25).


MATCH ONE SCORE: UC Santa Cruz 3, Aurora University 1 (17-25, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25)
MATCH TWO SCORE: Aurora University 3, Marymount University 1 (21-25, 25-27, 25-22, 25-23)
LOCATION: Thousand Oaks, California - California Lutheran University
RECORDS: Aurora University 10-6 overall and 5-1 in the NACC


MATCH ONE
- The Spartans hit just .032 in the opening set while UC Santa Cruz hit .269 to take the 25-17 set one lead.
- AU improved hitting .219 in the second set, but came up just short.
- The Spartans led 19-15 in the set, but a couple errors helped UC Santa Cruz to come back and take set two 26-24.
- In set three AU was fueled by a couple Solomon Dial aces early on.
- Another service ace from Nathan Anderson put the Spartans up 24-21, and eventually winning the set 25-22.
- In the fourth set the Spartans hit -.034 while UC Santa Cruz would hit .292 and take the set 25-18 and match 3-1.


Kills: Thomas Kovanic (14)
Assists: James Karwin (33)
Blocks: Solomon Dial (2)
Digs: Alex Nonhoff (11)


MATCH TWO
- The Spartans dropped set one hitting .000 while Marymount hit .135.
- In set two Solomon Dial had the hot hand again as a couple aces in the middle of the set gave the Spartans a 17-10 lead.
- AU kept their distance in the set winning 25-17.
- In set three Nelson Matthew and Thomas Kovanic led the way for the Spartan. Combining for seven kills en route to their 25-22 set win.
- In set four the Spartans fell behind early. In the middle of the set the Spartans gave themselves some room scoring two for each point MU scored.
- Spartan John McCormack gave the Spartans a late 21-20 lead starting a 3-0 run.
- MU had their own 3-0 run tying it back up at 23-23.
- Spartans Kovanic and Gunner Rodarte would close out the match each recording a kill on the final two points.
- Spartans win set four 25-23 and match 3-1.


Kills: Solomon Dial and Gunner Rodarte (9)
Assists: James Karwin (35)
Blocks: John McCormack (5)
Digs: Alex Nonhoff (17)


Next action for the Spartan men's volleyball team comes on Saturday, March 12 when they face St. John Fisher College for their final matchup at the California Lutheran Invite. Match time is set for 12:00 PM (PST), 2:00 PM (CST).
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