'Cats can't come up with final points in loss to Holy Names

The Wildcats finished their weekend with a tough loss to the Holy Names University Hawks on Sunday in the Wildcat Center. Both teams looked to have shaken off the first game jitters from the night before as they came out looking to dominate one another at the net.

The Hawks opened a strong lead in the first set but the 'Cats closed out the game on a 8-2 run to take the opening win 25-23. The second set had the Hawks holding the advantage throughout much of the set and taking the 25-22 win over JWU.

In the third set, JWU regained their form from the first set and controlled the tempo throughout. Blake Walden recorded 7 kills in the set with .545 attacking guiding the 'Cats to the 25-21 win. The fourth set saw Johnson & Wales looking sluggish allowing the Hawks to establish a sizeable lead through the middle portion. The Wildcats started to stage a comeback but HNU's lead was too much to make a difference, falling 21-25.

The final set looked like the fourth with Holy Names controlling the ball while JWU looked to regain the same level of attacking they had produced earlier. HNU jumped out to a 10-4 lead before JWU started to make progress but the Hawks held off the late rally dropping the 'Cats 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 15-9).

Walden recorded a game high 18 kills and Damon Sichler setup 40 assists. Ryan Schroerlucke and Kyle McDonald each had 12 digs for JWU. Sichler also had 2.5 blocks for the 'Cats. Colin Harper and James Holway each had 16 kills for the Hawks and Nick Kalustian had 51 defensive digs.

Johnson & Wales (0-2) will host the University of Colorado Club team in an exhibition match on Saturday, January 21 and return to MAMVIC action on Friday, January 27 when they host Hope International at 7pm.