BUENA VISTA, Va. – In a rematch of the 2022 Continental Volleyball Conference tournament championship, the Southern Virginia University Men's Volleyball team (16-2, 6-1) took on No. 14 Rutgers-Newark (12-7, 4-3) in a battle of ranked teams.
Following a Scarlet Raider ace to open the match,
Christian Sheaffer slammed a ball down the line for the home team's first point. On the next point,
Kristo Bianchin and
Jeremy Brown got way above the net to shut down Andrew Zaleck, causing the packed Knight Arena to explode.
After a service ace by Brown stretched the advantage to five, 9-4, Head Coach Aidan Albrecht called an early timeout, hoping it would help regroup his team. Following the short break, the teams split the next eight points before Southern Virginia scored eight of the next 11 to take a 21-11 lead.
Christian Sheaffer would score the set's final three points with two kills and a block, closing with a score of 25-14. The block was one of four in the set for the Knights, with five different players getting in on the action.
The block party continued into the second set, with Bianchin,
Kyler Evans and
Christian Sheaffer combining for a block in the opening point. Two points later, Brown quickly shuffled across the court and got his hands above the net for another impressive block. Another solo block, this time by Evans, made the score 8-2, forcing another early Raider timeout. The Knights would add two straight blocks following the timeout, pushing the total to nine in the match.
After trading points over the next few minutes, the home team's 4-0 run stretched the advantage to 11, 20-9. Southern Virginia would win the second set with a score of 25-15 after Bianchin and
Christian Sheaffer shut down Daniel Quay for yet another block.
With a two-set lead, the Knights looked to secure their fifth consecutive sweep. Evans got off to a great start, rattling off the first two kills for the home team. After splitting the opening six points, the Knights grabbed the next three tallies to create a small advantage.
Looking to force a fourth set, the Scarlet Raiders kept it close over the next few minutes of play but a 5-0 run that stretched the lead to seven secured the sweep.
The set ended similarly to how it began, with Evans registering two of the final three kills to reach seven on the night—tied for the second most this season. His five kills in the third set also tied for the most in the match with teammate
Christian Sheaffer.
The Southern Virginia defense was phenomenal in the match, holding the CVC leader in kills, Andrew Zaleck, to just six kills and a hitting percentage in the negatives. The team also tied its season high in blocks with 12.5, with
Kristo Bianchin leading the charge.
Christian Sheaffer, who added four blocks, also tallied nine digs to lead all players.
Tyler Sheaffer was also outstanding in the match, recording 11 assists per set and adding four digs, four blocks and two kills. Twelve of his assists set up his brother, Christian, who led all players in kills while hitting .500.
After compiling 20 errors from the service line, the Knights will hope to clean up their serves in tomorrow's match against Kean, which begins at 1 p.m.
To follow along with the action and for all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's volleyball, visit knightathletics.com and follow @knightmvolleyball on Instagram.
