Aurora University Spartan junior outside hitter Josh McLellan became the AU men's volleyball all-time leader in career kills when he collected his 18th of 20 in the Spartans 3-1 win over #15 University of California Santa Cruz on Saturday evening. Earlier in the day, the Spartans defeated Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference foe Wisconsin Lutheran College 3-1. Prior to the match with Wisconsin Lutheran, the Spartans celebrated the senior class of 2025.


MATCH ONE SCORE: #10 Aurora University 3, Wisconsin Lutheran College 1 (25-20, 25-13, 14-25, 25-17)
MATCH TWO SCORE: #10 Aurora University 3, #15 Univiversity of California Santa Cruz 1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22)
LOCATION: Aurora, Illinois - Thornton Gymnasium
RECORDS: #10 Aurora University 21-4 overall, 9-1 NACC


Match One vs Wisconsin Lutheran College
- AU jumped out to an early lead and rolled to a 25-20 opening set win.
- The Spartans hit .286 with six Spartans knocking down kills and as a team combined for four team blocks.
- The Spartans erupted to a big early lead and never looked back in the second set, winning 25-13.
- Lucas Meier led the way with five kills and the team had 6.5 blocks.
- Leading early, AU lost the lead in the third at 10-10 and would fall 25-14.
- Any doubt of the matches outcome was put to rest early in the fourth set as the Spartans opened a 7-1 lead.
- AU would go on to win 25-17 in the set and 3-1 in the match.
- Josh McLellan had a team-high four kills in the fourth set win while the team added six more team blocks.
- On the day, AU finished the match with 17.5 blocks.

Match Two vs #15 UC Santa Cruz
- The two ranked teams took some time early to battle back and forth before Santa Cruz grabbed the lead and won 25-20.
- The second set was tightly played with the scored tied on seven occasions but just two lead changes.
- AU trailed 23-21 in the second but a kill from SJ Nelson and three consecutive from Josh McLellan led to a 25-23 set win.
- McLellan added five kills in the second set for 10 in the match through two sets.
- AU grabbed a 5-4 lead in the third set on a McLellan kill and would lead the remainder of the way.
- McLellan added five more kills in the 25-20 set win with SJ Nelson adding four.
- The fourth set was again close throughout between the two teams.
- A kill by McLellan to give AU the 13-11 lead was his 18th of the match and pushed him into the lead in career kills in the young AU men's volleyball program history.
- The fifth and final kill of the day for McLellan gave AU a 23-22 lead which eas quickly followed up by a kill from Connor Carroll.
- The Spartans would win the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.


Match One vs Wisconsin Lutheran College
Kills: Josh McLellan Lucas Meier (10)
Assists: Logan Brouwer (28)
Blocks: Sebastian Ciszewski and Soloman Dail (6), Lucas Meier and Martin McKee (5)
Digs: Alex Nonhof and Nathan Kirwan (9) 
Aces: Sebastian Ciszewski and Logan Brouwer (1)

Match Two vs #15 UC Santa Cruz
Kills: Josh McLellan (20), Lucas Meier (12) and SJ Nelson (10)
Assists: Logan Brouwer (48)
Blocks: Ammar Brzovic (5) and Sebastian Ciszewski (4)
Digs: Alex Nonhof (23) 
Aces: Nathan Kirwan (2)


Next action for the Spartan men's volleyball team comes on Wednesday, April 2 when they host Marian University. Opening serve is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium.