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Jacob Fischer couldn’t help but crack a smile while walking to the bench following a service error in the opening game.
None of the Maryville coaches and players were too upset about the serve into the net given everything the middle attacker had already done while at the service line,
Fischer had four consecutive aces in the opening game and finished with a season-high five aces as Maryville defeated Thomas More 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-19 on Friday in Crestview, Kentucky.
Fischer along with the serving performance led all players 10 kills on a .438 attack percentage. The middle attacker also had a match-high six kills to help Maryville (11-3, 1-0 IVA) win its conference opener and extend its winning streak to a school-record seven matches.
Maryville out-hit Thomas More .239 to .140 and had four players finish with more than five kills.
Middle attacker David Fleischer contributed 10 kills on a match-best .615 attack percentage. Pin-hitter Luke Raft added nine kills, while outside attacker Cameron Lee had eight kills against Thomas More (8-7, 0-3 IVA).
Pin-hitter Luke Duncan in the loss led Thomas More with 12 kills and three aces. Middle attacker Caleb Lipscomb also had seven kills on a .545 attack percentage.
Lipscomb, though, was the only Thomas More player to hit more than .250.
Thomas More was limited to a match-worst negative-.107 attack percentage in the final game. Fischer had a game-high three blocks in the game, while Fleischer added a block and three kills.
Maryville led by as many as eight points in the third game and had a 4-1 run midway through the game that featured an ace from Fischer. In addition, Lee contributed a game-high four kills to help the Saints take a one-game lead.
Thomas More had a four-point lead early in the second game and three-point lead midway through the game, but Maryville rallied both times to tie the game. Thomas More, though, responded and closed out the game on a 6-3 run that featured four attack errors and a service error from Maryville.
Along with the four consecutive aces, Fisher led all players with four kills in the opening game. Maryville hit .400 in the first game and committed one attack error on the final 39 points of the game.
Maryville with this victory improves to 3-0 all-time against the first-year IVA program. Maryville defeated Thomas in four games each of the last two seasons.