GLEN ELLYN, Ill., April 13, 2024 – The Monroe College Mustangs men's volleyball team stayed hot on Day 2 of the 2024 NJCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational on Saturday. The Mustangs swept host College of DuPage in the final match of pool play to earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament's championship bracket. No. 2 Monroe then faced off with No. 7 Atlantic Cape Community College in the quarterfinal round, defeating the Buccaneers in three sets as well. The Mustangs have yet to lose a set through four matches in the tournament, and have advanced to Sunday's semifinal round, needing just two more wins to claim the tournament title.
POOL B MATCH 3: #1 Monroe 3, #2 DuPage 0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-17)
After their two previous matchups this season resulted in a pair of hard-fought battles, it was no surprise to see Saturday's pool-play match between the Mustangs and the Chaparrals get off to a tight start. The Mustangs had an early 7-5 edge, but the Chaps managed to jump ahead, 9-8. A three-point run by Monroe later in the game gave the Mustangs a 16-12 lead. Monroe's lead was down to two before three straight kills resulted in a 24-19 advantage. After a timeout
Damian Baker served up an ace to close out the set with a 25-19 victory for a 1-0 lead in the match.
An early 4-0 run by DuPage in the second set gave the tournament hosts a 4-2 lead. The Mustangs bounced right back by scoring 4-of-5 to go up, 6-5. The Mustangs looked to be gaining some distance with a 14-11 lead, but the Chaps responded with a 5-0 run to take over, 16-14. Monroe was down, 20-19, but turned on the jets in a big way, rattling off the next six points to close out the second set with a 25-20 win to go up, 2-0.
The Chaps had the early 6-4 lead in the third frame before the Mustangs scored five straight points to go back up, 9-6. Another four straight for Monroe had the Mustangs up, 13-7. DuPage responded by scoring 4-of-5 to get back within three. After a point for the Mustangs, DuPage scored another three straight to make it a one-point game at 15-14. The Mustangs bounced right back with four in a row to force DuPage to use a timeout. Monroe made it five straight before DuPage got two back to get within four. The Mustangs scored the next two before a service error gave the Chaps a point for a 22-17 score. The Mustangs wasted no time from there, getting a kill from
Briggs Wieboldt, a block by
Timothy Reyes and a kill by
Arnau Riu Giralt to close out the match with a 25-17 win.
Wieboldt had a big first match, hitting .600 with a team-high 14 kills in the win.
Ethan Grace was right behind with 11 kills, adding two aces, two blocks and two digs. Riu Giralt and Baker each had six kills in the final pool-play match. Reyes passed around 33 assists with 12 digs for a double-double.
Arthur Rosa picked up 10 digs of his own.
QUARTERFINALS: #2 Monroe 3, #7 Atlantic Cape 0 (25-7, 25-12, 25-10)
The Mustangs got off to an incredibly hot start in Saturday's quarterfinal match and never looked back. Monroe jumped out to a huge 13-2 lead on Atlantic Cape in the first set, eventually pushing the lead all the way to 20-4. It did not take much longer to reach the final score of 25-7 to put the Mustangs up, 1-0. All seven of the Buccaneers' points in the set were scored on an error by the Mustangs.
The Mustangs did it again in the second stanza, taking a quick 11-4 edge before extending the lead to 17-6. A three-point run made it 21-8 before the two teams traded the final eight points back-and-forth for a 25-12 win for the Mustangs to take a two-set lead in the match.
Monroe led, 7-2, early in what proved to be the final frame. The lead stretched to seven when three straight points put the Mustangs up, 12-5. Monroe then went on a 9-1 run to make it a 21-8 score. The Mustangs then closed out the day with four of the final five points to claim a 25-10 win and sweep the quarterfinal match.
The Mustangs hit a highly efficient .500 in the match while holding the Buccaneers to a -.025 clip. Baker had a stellar match with eight kills, three blocks, six aces and four digs while hitting .583. Wieboldt outhit his teammate with another .600 clip while matching Baker's eight kills, adding four aces, two blocks and two digs. Riu Giralt totaled four kills with four aces and two digs. Reyes needed just 20 assists in the win, while picking up two digs to go with three blocks, two aces and three kills.
Joriel Delgado,
Devounte Bennett and Grace each had three kills apiece in the match.
The Mustangs are now set for a semifinal match against No. 3 Bryant & Stratton College (Wisc.) on Sunday, April 14, at 12 p.m. ET. The winner will face off with the winner of No. 1 Finger Lakes Community College and No. 4 DuPage in the championship match at 4 p.m. ET. The losers of each semifinal will play a third-place match at 2 p.m. ET.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 28 teams competing across nine sports. There are 20 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well the Monroe College marching band, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@MonroeMustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
