Governors State men’s volleyball punched its ticket to the CCAC Conference Championship with a commanding 3-0 sweep of Olivet Nazarene (IL) Wednesday night in the semi-finals at the ARC, winning 25-22, 25-9, 25-20 to improve to 19-10 overall and 13-2 in conference play. It was a performance that left no doubt: the Jaguars are playing their best volleyball of the season at exactly the right time.
The tone was set early as GovState took the first set 25-22 before completely seizing control in the second, where the Jaguars were simply suffocating, hitting an exceptional .522 and limiting Olivet to just 9 points in one of the most dominant sets of the season. The third set was another wire-to-wire GovState effort, closing out the match 25-20 and sending the home crowd home happy.
Diego Antunez and Pablo Pascual shared the offensive load beautifully, each finishing with 12.0 total points. Antunez posted 12 kills on a .429 hitting percentage while Pascual added 11 kills at .318 and an ace. What made this performance special was the efficiency up and down the lineup. Ean Schultz went a perfect 4-for-4 with zero errors for a 1.000 hitting percentage, adding a solo block and a block assist for 5.5 points, and Pedro Oliveira was nearly as sharp with 4 kills on 5 attempts at .800 and a solo block for 5.0 points. Lucas Lapa was in complete control at setter, distributing 31 assists and going error-free on his own attempts, while Jared Byas anchored the back row with 9 digs and two aces. As a team, GovState hit .333 and held Olivet to a .065 clip for the match.
This group has worked all season for a moment like this, and now they’ve earned it.
Up Next — CCAC Tournament Championship
Governors State heads to Chicago to face Saint Xavier (IL) in the CCAC Tournament Championship on Saturday, April 18, at 1 p.m. It’s a rematch of a regular-season loss the Jaguars will be looking to avenge on the biggest stage of the year. Good luck to the Jaguars, bring home that championship!