Phoenixville, PA – The University of Valley Forge Men's Volleyball team fell to the Knights of Neumann University on Tuesday nights conference matchup in straight sets. Neumann defeated Valley Forge with scores of 25-21, 25-23, and 25-14.
The match began with a point-by-point trading system, and tying the set 11 different times. Tied at 17 apiece, Valley Forge took the next 3 out of 4 points to change the score 20-18 in their favor. However, Neumann found a 3-point run, taking back the lead 21-20. Both teams were even as sophomore
David Fletcher earned an impressive kill, but the Knights would take set one 25-21 after the Patriots committed four consecutive errors.
Set two was another nail biter with the back-and-forth game. The Patriots held a 9-5 lead, but allowed the Knights to creep back up with a 5-0 offensive run. With a 12-12 score, Neumann took their largest lead of the set at 15-12.
Paul Brown got it started for the Patriots with a kill, followed by
Garrett Olsen and
Ryan Deschaine to only trail the Knight by a solo point. Despite a Valley Forge service error, Olsen earned a kill at the net, and Fletcher knocked down a serve to tie the set at 18. The Knights weren't going down without a fight, securing the next three points to take the lead once again. Down 23-19, Valley Forge was able to string together the next 4 out of 5 points to only trail the Knights by 1. However, after another service error, Neumann took set two with a 25-23 score.
In the final frame, the Knights held their momentum, building a significant lead to take a 23-12 victory over the Patriots.
Valley Forge was led in kills by Olsen (8), followed by Deschaine (4) and Brown (4). Fletcher led the Patriots in service aces (2), blocks (2), and assists (12). Freshman
Jordan Kieffer collected 9 digs on the evening.
As a team, Valley Forge tallied 17 kills on 76 total attempts.
The Patriots will be back in action on Friday, April 9
th as they travel to Chambersburg, PA to face the Phoenix of Wilson College for the second time this season. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.