COLUMBIA, KY — The St. Andrews University wrestling team lost a close dual with NAIA foe Marian University (Ind.) 25-15 in the last of the Mid-South Duals at Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.) last week.
The Knights also wrestled Mid-South Conference opponents, No. 7 Lindsey Wilson (9-4) falling 41-6 and No. 11 Life University (Ga.) 45-0.
Some highlights for the Knights included sophomore heavyweight Aaron Vaughan (13-6) extending his record in 2017 to 11-1 with his 4-2 double overtime win over a Lindsey Wilson grappler. Vaughan saw his long 10 match winning streak come to an end when he fell 2-1 in a tiebreaker to the top heavyweight in the region from Life University.
Other bright spots on the day included a quality win for junior Brennan Patton (8-11) at 125 lbs. as he topped Lindsey Wilson 6-1 in his first bout before he fell by a 13-7 decision to Marian. Senior 141 pounder Tyran Taylor-Owens lost a close 4-3 decision match to Lindsey Wilson before winning by forfeit in his last bout. Freshman Noah Walker picked up a quality 6-4 decision at 149 lbs. over a Marian grappler while dropping his other two bouts to ranked foes.
In the close dual with Marian (5-5), junior Kavoris Perry (174) and senior heavyweight Devin Washington also won close bouts to keep St. Andrews in the match. Perry won his bout 6-4 while Washington won 5-1.
St. Andrews finished their dual meet schedule on Thursday against AAC foe Allen University (SC) and Div. III Greensboro College (3-9).
Men’s volleyball drops Tri-Meet matches
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — The St. Andrews University men’s volleyball team dropped both of their NAIA tri-meet matches. The Knights fell to conference foe Campbellsville University (Ky.) in five sets before losing in four sets to non-conference Siena Heights University (Mich.) last weekend.
Campbellsville 3, St. Andrews 2
After St. Andrews jumped out to a 20-18 advantage, Campbellsville came out of a timeout and stormed ahead to steal the first set 25-22. That would turn out to be a crucial series of points as the match would go to five sets. Cambellsville took control and won the second set 25-20 behind 13 kills.
The Knights then dominated the third set on nine kills to win 25-16. St. Andrews managed to push the match to a deciding fifth set with a 25-19 win in game four behind 13 Knights’ kills while hitting .310. Unfortunately, after leading Cambellsville 8-5 halfway through the fifth game, the Tigers stormed back going on a 10-3 run and hold on for the 15-11 victory.
Junior Robin Imar led the way with 25 kills with 13 digs for a double-double. Freshman Jacob DeSouza picked up eight kills, two aces, two assists, two blocks, and nine digs.
Freshman setter Jackson Stark also added 47 assists for his new season-high along with an ace, a solo block, and four digs.
Siena Heights 3, St. Andrews 1
Siena Heights eked past the Knights in the first set 26-24 behind 17 kills. The Saints rolled to a game two win 25-14 on 12 kills and only three errors while St. Andrews totaled eight kills with 11 errors.
The two teams battled in a very close high-scoring third set as St. Andrews came out on top edging Siena Heights for a 30-28 victory in their longest set of the season. The Knights totaled an impressive 21 kills as Siena Heights had 14 kills.
The Saints pulled ahead late and won the match in four taking it 25-22 behind 16 kills.
Imar led again with 26 kills and 17 digs for his second straight double-double. Imar is averaging 19 kills per match and 5.2 per set. Stark broke his own record with 50 assists to go along with seven digs, one kill, and two block assists. Stark is now averaging 36.2 assists per match and 9.9 per set.
DeSouza contributed 15 kills for his season-high while also hitting a season best .136. He also added 12 digs for his second double-double of the year. Freshmen Blackwell and Armbruster combined for 14 kills and four assisted blocks.
St. Andrews falls to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference while Campbellsville goes to 2-5 and Siena Heights moves to 5-1 on the year.
