Roanoke College Men’s Volleyball has been dominant since returning to action, consistently winning games with ease. This was proven in a comfortable three to nothing win against Randolph College at Roanoke’s Cregger Center, keeping their perfect two and zero conference record. In fact, Roanoke’s volleyball team has yet to lose a set this year in a meaningful game sweeping all three of their opponents.
Against Randolph College, a key storyline entering the game was Roanoke player Eli Looney, facing up against his brother, Sam. Eli’s transfer from Willamette University has proved to be beneficial for Roanoke College helping them maintain their perfect record. Standout performances from Jackson Rutkowski and Michael Cummins allowed for Roanoke to dominate in the kills department while Leo Houser racked up a whopping 20 assists. Randolph College often never even had a chance as Roanoke totaled six aces coming from Dominic Wheaton and Collin Mendoza. Roanoke had an impressive hitting percentage 32.3% dwarfing Randolph’s figure of 11.6.
The Maroons also made very few mistakes as they had only 14 errors. Cade Kinne had an impressive three blocks in the performance. Another key reason for Roanoke’s victory was their excellent depth. The Maroons talent across the whole roster allowed for players to keep fresh and helped them win the game in three sets. Randolph College took an early lead in the third set, but in large part due to their prolific bench pieces, Roanoke was able to storm back and cap off the comfortable victory.
Overall, Randolph was outmatched in most areas and they paid the price for it as Roanoke was able to capitalize on their opportunities and win in dominant fashion. The loss drops Randolph College to 3.2 and puts them 1.1 in the ODAC, meaning it should be interesting when they face off against Roanoke again on February 21st on the road to Lynchburg.
The Maroons have an important tournament coming up the weekend of January 31st, in which they will hope to keep up their early season momentum and maintain the top spot in the ODAC conference.
Ruben Krishna
Staff Reporter
