No. 7 Hannibal Upsets No. 2 Johnson and Wales in Thriller

Friday, April 1, 2011
by Tyler Price

Hannibal, MO - In one of the most exciting matches of the year, No. 7 seeded Hannibal-LaGrange University upset No. 2 seeded Johnson and Wales University in five sets on Saturday, (25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 16-14) to move onto to day two of the MAMVIC West conference tournament.

Hannibal will now face No. 3 seed Park University on Saturday at 10 a.m. for a chance to play in the conference tournament championship game which will take place on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

Matheus Roham led Hannibal to the upset with 23 kills, 15 digs and a service ace and Hannibal recorded 10.5 total team blocks on the day.

Outside hitters Komakana Fernandez and Chris Schardt each had 13 kills for JWU and setter Mike Sauro had a team high 42 assists.

With the victory, Hannibal improves to 12-17, while JWU falls to 20-10. The Wildcats will now have to wait and see if they receive an at-large bid for the 2011 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Invitational Tournament Championship in Davenport, Iowa from April 14-16,