Sylvania, OH-Day two of Menlo Men's Volleyball cross country roadtrip saw the Oaks matching up against 9th ranked Georgetown College. It was a rematch of last year that saw the 2023 Oaks beat Georgetown in four sets. This time head coach Todd Hollenbeck's squad was even more dialed in with a 3-0 sweep to give the 7th nationally ranked Oaks five straight victories to start the season!

Well Balanced Attack from Menlo

On the offensive side of the net Menlo put together a strong outing thanks to a balanced attack that saw multiple players post double digit kills and a team hitting percentage of .356. Leading the way was sophomore Julius Stiemer. The reigning All-Conference player posted a match high 13 kills while hitting .407. He also added two block assists and a service ace. Gabriel Knittel was also a force for the Oaks with an eye popping .667 that came on 10 kills in 12 attempts. The middle blocker also added in two block assists of his own. Lastly, Konrad Stoklosinski added to his team leading kill total with another 11. On top of that he also contributed three total blocks, a service ace and three digs.

Will Lawler Sets Everyone Up

Sophomore Will Lawler was a focal point once again of Menlo's offense with 41 assists. In fact while it was not technically his single match high in assists, the fact that he reached 41 in only three sets was highly impressive. It took a full five sets for him to reach 51 in yesterday's match against Lourdes. Today's sweep led to a 13.66 assists average per match.

Up Next…

The final day of the teams Ohio trip will see the Oaks go against a William Penn University team that currently ranks 10th in the nation. If the team can pull off a 3-0 week in Ohio they will have successfully secured wins over the 9th, 10th and 14th ranked teams in the nation. It would be an outstanding start to the year and exactly the type of high level competition that will get the squad ready for the gauntlet that is the GSAC come conference play.