ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Medaille College men's volleyball team kicked off their 2022 season on the road at the Cardinal Classic hosted by St. John Fisher. The Mavs faced off against the Nazareth College Golden Flyers where they lost in three sets (12-25, 14-25, 10-25).

In the first set, Medaille grabbed the first point of the game from a service ace by Gay Doh Htoo (Rochester, NY, World of Inquiry High School). The Golden Flyers responded quickly with a kill before committing multiple attack errors to keep the score close. George Muriel (Hamburg, NY, Hamburg) added an ace to get the Mavs within three points (9-12) before Nazareth started an eight point scoring streak to go up 20-9. Malachi Jackson (Cheektowaga, NY, Cheektowaga) and Kevin Cashdollar (Clarence, NY, Clarence HS) each chipped in a kill late in the set as the Mavs dropped the first set 12-25.

Jackson continued his hitting success in the second set with the opening kill. The high-powered Nazareth offense put together multiple scoring runs to get the edge on the Mavs. Despite multiple attacking errors from Nazareth and late kills from Jackson, the Golden Flyers took the second set 25-14.

The third set started out with another Htoo service ace. Jackson and Htoo each added a kill but Nazareth had all the momentum. The Golden Flyers took the final set, 25-10.

Jackson led the Mavs with six kills and three digs. Htoo had two aces while Cashdollar put up six assists and three digs. Muriel had a team-best three solo blocks.

The Mavs will look to bounce back tomorrow for day two of the Cardinal Classic. Medaille will take on St. John Fisher at 11:00 a.m.