The College of DuPage men’s volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season at the paws of the Saint Xavier Cougars. All three sets had ups and downs, and all went into overtime down to the wire, but DuPage couldn’t pull off the comeback.

To start the first set, Saint Xavier hit the ball out on the first serve to give the chaps a 1-0 lead. COD and the Cougars traded points early, but after a couple of kills by outside hitter Braeden Zant, the Chaps took a 6-4 lead. The Cougars tied the first set at 8-8 following a couple mishaps by COD. The first set was full of excellent kills by both teams. A couple of serves and an ace from Adam Jankowiak to COD resulted in DuPage going up 15-14. Zant’s kill gave COD a one-point lead after the first set was tied at 21. Saint Xavier tied it up at 22, but the high flyer Zant put a kill in the middle of the Cougars’ side of the court (23-22). COD gave the lead right back after a couple of long rallies (24-25). The Cougars and the Chaps kept trading points up until Saint Xavier pulled away with two consecutive points to give them a 1-0 set lead (28-30).   

COD fell behind 1-4 early to start the second set after miscommunication and well-placed balls by the Cougars. The deficit became larger and larger as the set went on, but DuPage was still in the game. DuPage tied the second set at 12-12 but gave the lead right back. Brayden Tejeda of COD was a wall for the Chaps in the second set, which gave DuPage several points. The set was tied at 23, and COD called a timeout. Right out of the timeout, the Cougs took the first point, but DuPage took it right back. Both teams traded, but Saint Xavier ultimately outlasted the Chaps by finishing the second off 25-27 to go up two sets on COD. 

In a must-win set for the Chaps, COD started hot, going on a 5-3 run. The lead got quickly wiped away with Saint Xavier going up 5-6. The third set felt like a copy of the first set, with both teams having a lead and then giving it up. The Chaparrals found themselves down 20-22, but Kevin Jones brought it back with two clutch serves. They traded points again, and the set sat at 23-23. Zant hit the ball into the net on the serve to give the Cougars the lead (24-23). With the game point on the line, Jones trickled the ball down the net, which landed in and gave COD a chance of going to a fourth set. Saint Xavier would end the Chaps’ hopes and complete the sweep after getting back-to-back points (24-26).

“I wouldn’t look at it as a win-loss; I look at it as how we played; we just didn’t have our best game, and that’s unfortunate. If we lost and played a good game, it would have been OK, but we just played flat and maybe a good wakeup call for our guys,” said head coach Tolis Koskinaris. 

Sophomore Nate Perez said, “I think it’s good for us to take a loss so it shows us where our weaknesses are to give us a better practice plan so we can get pushed not just emotionally but physically.”

DuPage lost against Roosevelt University on Feb. 28 in three sets (17-25, 20-25, 21-25). Follow codcourier on Instagram to find out all the latest game scores.