It didn’t take long for the Roberts Wesleyan men’s volleyball team to make its mark on the national level. On January 27, the Redhawks won the 2024 National Christian College Athletic Association Men’s Volleyball Invitational Championship.
The seven-team, two-day tournament saw Roberts Wesleyan advance to the championship game after going 1-1 in pool play and then taking a 3-1 win over Geneva in the semifinals followed by a 3-1 victory over Redeemer in the title match.
Freshman Griffin Monrad was named the ‘Most Outstanding Player’ of the tournament and also earned a spot on the All-Tournament team. Paul Fillion was also named to the All-Tournament team.
Roberts is the eighth program to ever win the NCCAA Invitational Championship.
“It was a huge honor to be able to host and then to eventually win the tournament,” said head coach Mike Dedee. “I am incredibly proud and happy for the team to have them rewarded for their continuous hard work. I am thankful to the NCCAA for agreeing to let us host the event and very appreciative of so many people behind the scenes who helped make this happen.”
In order to win the championship, the Redhawks had to defeat a Redeemer University team that they had lost to in five sets just the day before, but the team was up to the challenge, led by an offense that was clicking.
Monrad led the attack with 14 kills and five aces. Fillion and Jonah Grbic each had 13 kills while Fillion hit an impressive .611 with only two hitting errors. Riley Green dished out 32 assists in the title match.
With Roberts holding a 24-16 set point advantage in the fourth set, freshman Kaidan Krchniak stepped up to serve and buried a top-spinning ace to give the Redhawks the win.
“When we got to 24 and a somewhat comfortable lead, I was just praying for our guys to achieve this success after fighting so hard over the course of two days. Kaidan’s final serve was the exclamation point on an incredible weekend.”
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