When it comes to dominating their opponents, the fourth-ranked OUAZ men's volleyball team has been on a roll the last few years.  The team is 53-17 in the 70 games since the start of the 2021 season.
 
The roll continued with a 3-0 sweep over host St. Xavier University (Ill.) on Friday, January 26th in the 2024 St. Xavier Tournament with set scores of 25-20, 25-23, 25-17.
 
Addah Nestor led the way with 13 kills and three blocks.  Brody Smith helped the attack numbers with six kills.  Zeo Meyer had four of the team's 11 aces to go along with his 24 assists.
 
Early in the first set, OUAZ took five of six points to take a 10-7 lead.  St. Xavier (0-2) then took four points to take an 11-10 lead.  That would be the last lead of the set for the Cougars.
 
OUAZ would go on a 4-1 run to take a 14-12 lead.  The teams would trade points the rest of the set.
 
It was close the entire second set; it wasn't until OUAZ took a 20-17 lead that it seemed like they would win.  That was the conclusion of the Spirit taking four of five points and SXU taking a timeout to break the string.  A late 2-0 run to make it 24-22 for the set point and another SXU timeout before trading of points, where things settled.
 
An early 4-0 run to break a 4-4 tie gave the Spirit an 8-4 lead in the deciding set.  The Cougars would grab four of five points to close to within 14-11. OUAZ would respond with five of six points to take a 19-12 lead and effectively finish the match.  Horatio Maumasi killed the actual deciding point for his fourth of the night.
 
The Spirit will wrap up the tournament at Noon Arizona time with a matchup against the University of Jamestown.  They will open the home season on February 5th with a match against Valley rival Park Gilbert (0-1) at 6:00 p.m. inside Faith Arena.  Get your tickets on the Hometown Tickets App or by clicking on ouaz.com/tickets.