HARTSVILLE, S.C. (February 7, 2015)—The Sacred Heart men's volleyball team picked up a pair of sweeps on the opening day of the Coker Invitational against Emmanuel and Coker. Austin Arcala (Long Beach, Calif.) led the Pioneers for the day with 20 kills throughout the two matches. With the two wins, improves SHU's record to 6-7 for the year.

Travis Vonholt (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) posted an errorless set against Emmanuel converting five of his attacks for kills.  The Pioneers and Saints were close in the opening set with the scoring tying four times early before Vonholt's six-point service run boosted Sacred Heart to an 11-8 lead. SHU rode the lead to the 25-18 win giving the Pioneers an early lead in the match. The second set started identical to the first, but this time it was streaks from Raymond Satagaj (Rocky Hill, Conn.) and Arcala that helped lift Sacred Heart to a 25-19 win. Rookie Trent Thompson (Kailua, Hawaii) led the third set with four kills as the Pioneer clinched the match with the 25-21 win.

Sacred Heart dominated the opening set against the Cobras winning 25-14 behind Arcala's set-leading six kills. The Pioneers led throughout most of the second half taking their largest lead of 14-7 behind Eduardo Zardo's (Brasilia, Brazil) five-point service run. Coker worked its way back into the match chipping away at SHU's lead and eventually evening the score at 23. A Cobras service error tipped the scales in Sacred Heart's favor putting the Pioneers a set-point. A kill from Michael Comens (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) gave SHU a two sets to nothing lead. The final set featured back-and-forth action with the score tying six times and the lead changing hands on three occasions, but the Pioneers prevailed using a Vonholt kill to complete the sweep with the 25-23 win.

The Pioneers will continue play in the Coker Invitational Sunday against Holy Names and Marymount.