Men's Volleyball debuts 2026 season at the Showdown in the Woods

(St. Mary-Of-The-Woods, IN) - The Rochester Christian men's volleyball program debuted on Friday with a doubleheader against St. Mary of the Woods and Soka (CA). The Warriors fought tough in both matches on the day, ultimately falling in both. RCU falls to 0-2 on the season. 

GAME 1 - SMWC 3, RCU 0

The Pomeroy's jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set of the day, before a couple of errors from SMWC gave RCU it's first two points. Claudio Arato followed up the errors with a solo block, before Bao Nguyen earned a service ace. St. Mary's was able to retake control of the set, with RCU scoring points of multiple SWMC errors and a Xander Slate kill. 

The second set saw RCU take advantage of a couple of St. Mary errors as well as kills from Jonathan Chow, Jailen Tatum, and Bao Nguyen. After RCu got within three points, at 13-16, SMWC scored nine of the final 12 points to go up 2-0 in the match. 

Bao Nguyen started the set off with the first kill on the RCU side. The Warriors were able to stay within 3-5 points of the Pomoroys with aide from Emarion Buchanan, Nehemiah Rosillo, and Jailen Tatum, but SMWC was able to pull away with a 9-4 run to close out the match. 

GAME 2 - SOKA 3, RCU 2

The two teams battled it out to throughout the first set of the day with teams scoring back and forth. Bao Nguyen got the Warriors on the board with a kill to start the set. RCU's offense would see a balanced attack from all over with Jailen Tatum, Jonathan Chow, and Nehemiah Rosillo all getting kills, with Chow earning an ace. Neither team had more than a three-point advantage at any time in the set. Capitalizing off a couple of Soka errors, RCU was able to win their first set, 26-24. 

An early tight battle got things started for both sides with Jonathan Chow hitting another ace. Bao Nguyen and Jailen Taatum kept the Warriors in the set early on with kills, but Soka was able to grab 12 of the final 20 points to even out the set's at 1. 

RCU jumped out early to a 4-0 lead in the third set with Xander Slate and Jonathan Chow both earning points. Soka would tie it right back up as the two teams returned to going point for point. Nehemiah Rosillo got in on the scoring with a couple of kills. Following an 18-18 tie, Soka scored seven of the final 10 points to go up 2-1. 

Bao Nguyen scored the opening point of the fourth set, as RCU opened up to a 3-0 lead. After a couple of Soka points, the Warriors were able to rattle off a 10-5 run, in part to Jailen Tatum, Xander Slate, and Nguyen. The Lions responded as they were able to make it a 14-13 game. From that point the two teams rattled points off back and forth, until RCU scored the final four points with Tatum earning an ace to send the match to a deciding fifth-set. 

Jailen Tatum started the final set of the evening, getting a kill for the Warriors as it was once again a back and forth battle, with the teams getting to a 10-10 tie. The Lions were able to take advantage of a couple of Warrior errors and win five of the final six points for the match win. 

TOP PERFORMERS

Bao Nguyen and Jailen Tatum both hit double figures in kills on the day with 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Jonathan Chow was able to assist on 34 kills on the day. 

Six different Warriors tallied double-digit digs, led by Nehemiah Rosillo with 17 and Jonathan Chow with 14. Emarian Buchanan and Rosillo both had two blocks on the day. 

PROGRAM FIRST'S

First Point: Caludio Arato - Set 1 v SMWC - 3-5

First Kill: Xander Slate - Set 1 v SMWC - 6-9

First Assist: Jonathan Chow - Set 1 v SMWC - 6-9

First Service Ace: Bao Nguyen - Set 1 v SMWC - 4-5

First Solo Block: Caludio Arato - Set 1 v SMWC - 3-5

First Serve: Jonathan Chow - Set 1 v SMWC - 0-0

UP NEXT

The Warriors are right back in action tomorrow, January 31, at the Showdown in the Woods with a pair of games against Park-Gilbert (AZ) and Kentucky State at 1 PM and 7 PM, respectively.