Governors State men’s volleyball continued its strong late-season run with back-to-back home sweeps, taking down St. Ambrose (IA) on April 2 and Trinity Christian (IL) on April 7 to improve to 17-10 overall and 11-2 in conference play with the postseason closing in.
The first match against a solid St. Ambrose squad, which came in at 19-10, was the more competitive of the two, with the Jaguars winning 3-0 but needing to close out a tight 26-24 first set before pulling away in sets two and three (25-14, 25-22). Diego Antunez was the offensive standout, leading the team with 15 kills on a scorching .483 hitting percentage to go along with an ace and 6 digs for 16.0 total points. Daniel Lopez matched him in total points with 16.5, getting his done with 10 kills and a team-high 5 aces that gave GovState a consistent edge in the service game. Pablo Pascual contributed 8 kills and two block assists for 10.0 points, while Lucas Lapa orchestrated the offense with 31 assists. Jared Byas anchored the back row with 17 digs, and Thiago Neves added a solo block and two block assists at the net.
Tuesday’s road trip to Trinity Christian was more comfortable from start to finish, with GovState rolling to a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-22, 25-16) against a Trojans squad that sits at 4-16. Pascual led the way this time with 9 kills, .278 hitting percentage, two aces, and 9 digs for 11.5 points. Lapa again ran the offense smoothly with 26 assists and an ace, while Neves contributed three block assists, and Pedro Oliveira posted an efficient 3 kills on 5 attempts for a .400 clip. The Jaguars spread the load across the roster, getting contributions from 15 different players on the night and finishing with 10 combined blocks as a team.
Two more sweeps, two more steps in the right direction heading into what looks like a promising postseason run.
Up Next
Governors State returns home Thursday, April 9, at 7 p.m. to host Judson (IL) inside the ARC at University Park.