The Roanoke College men’s volleyball team, now 5-1 in ODAC play, will have two conference matches this week. The Maroons were scheduled to play at the University of Lynchburg on Wednesday and Saturday they have two matches in Harrisonburg, an ODAC match with Eastern Mennonite and a non-conference tilt against Marymount University.
The Maroons are 11-4 overall after sweeping two matches in Salem last Saturday at the Cregger Center. They defeated Bridgewater in an ODAC match, 3-0, then beat Elizabethtown College in a non-conference match, 3-2.
In the opener Michael Cummins led the Maroons in kills with 10. With that, Cummins became the first player in program history to surpass 800 career kills. Teagan Cole paced the squad in assists with 21 while CJ Kingston did so in digs with 10.
It was a thriller of a second match as the teams were neck and neck throughout. The sides split the first two sets with both sets finishing at 30-28. RC carried their momentum of their second set win into the third to take it 25-16. EC wasn’t going to go down without a fight as they took the fourth set, 25-22, to force a fifth. The sides then needed extra points in the fifth to decide it with Roanoke coming out on top, 21-19.
Jackson Rutkowski posted a career high 24 kills and 19 digs. He also added a career high five blocks, one solo and four assisted. Cummins did the same, recording new career marks in both categories with 22 kills and 13 digs. Kingston hit a new career high in digs with a team leading 20 and Johnny Moran dished out 37 assists, a new career mark for him.
