Finger Lakes wins inaugural Men's Volleyball Invitational
Glen Ellyn, IL - Finger Lakes (NY) defeats Monroe (NY) in four sets to claim the 2023 NJCAA Men's Volleyball Invitational title at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL.
The inaugural invitational saw six teams compete in pool play before the official seeding was set. The Lakers went undefeated throughout the weekend and only lost two sets, both to Monroe, across five matches. Freshman Jonah Grbic was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Lakers defeat Mustangs 3-1
Monroe jumped out to an early first-set lead after claiming it 26-24. The Lakers bounced back in the second set by claiming it by a convincing 25-12 to tie the match at 1.
Finger Lakes showed their might in the third set. After a 10-10 tie in the third set, the Lakers never surrendered the lead and were able to be one point away from the National Invitational title.
The fourth set was competitive from start to finish. Freshman Ian Meeks garnered two huge kills to stretch the Laker lead to 18-14, and they never looked back.
Mustangs finish as runner-up
Monroe entered the invitational as one of the two No. 1 ranked teams of their respective pools. The Mustangs defeated DuPage and Union prior to facing Finger Lakes in the crossover round. The Mustangs fell to the Lakers and earned the No. 2 overall seed in the bracket.
Earning a bye to the semifinal, they faced the No. 3 seed Bryant & Stratton (WI) who they defeated in straight sets to set up a final match with the Lakers.
The Mustangs took the opening set before losing the next three sets and earning a runner-up finish. Outside hitter Joe Kieler finished the title match with 20 kills while setter Timothy Reyes finished with 36 assists.
Bobcats defeat DuPage in the third-place game
Bryant & Stratton (WI) finished the Invitational with a third-place finish after defeating DuPage (IL) 3-1. The Bobcats won their first game of pool play over Ocean County (NJ) in straight sets before falling to Finger Lakes.
In the crossover round, they defeated DuPage 3-1 and earned the No. 3 seed in the official bracket. In a tight match against Union (NJ), the Bobcats managed to secure the win 3-0 to set up a match against Monroe who they fell to.
The third-place match saw three Bobcats earn 10+ kills while Alex Moore had a game-high 33 assists while also earning five digs.
