HIRAM, Ohio - January 17, 2020 – Led by Tom Supan's game-high 18 kills, Hiram Terriers men's volleyball opened their 2020 campaign with a win, sweeping the St. Norbert College Green Knights, 3-0, on Friday at Price Gymnasium.

After a kill from Nathan Cassell gave the Terriers their first points of the 2020 campaign, Hiram doubled-up the Green Knights over the first 12 points to take an 8-4 lead.

St. Norbert closed the gap to just three on a kill by Jake Krueger, but the Terriers stayed out in front, going back-and-forth with the Green Knights till the score stood at 15-12 Hiram.

Up three, the Terriers increased their lead to five on a kill by Supan and a block by Hunter Rock and Dangelo Boehner, but three-straight from St. Norbert and six of the next eight knotted the match at 20-all.

But the Terriers held firm, as a kill by Cassell gave Grant Phelan a serve the Terriers would never relinquish, as Hiram rolled off five-straight points to take set one, 25-20.

Hiram stayed hot to open set two, rattling off five of the first six points and opening the match on an 8-2 run for force the Green Knights to take a timeout. The Terries continued their charge out of the St. Norbert timeout with a 6-2 run to open up a 14-4 lead.

The Green Knights would cut the lead down to seven with a run of their own, but the Terriers pulled away with another run, 6-0 with Hiram up 17-10, to take a 23-10 lead.

Phelan would again finish the set off, this time with a kill from Andrew Diaz to give the Terriers a 25-12 set two victory.

St. Norbert came out in the third set with a charge of their own, scoring 10 of the first 14 points to take a 10-4 lead, their largest of the match. But the Terriers slowly whittled away at the Green Knights' lead, using a 4-1 run to cut the deficit down to four.

The Green Knights extended their lead out to five, 18-13 over the next few points before Hiram made their run.

Supan and the Terriers rattled off three-straight on a kill and a pair of aces to cut St. Norbert's lead to two. But, two quick points from the Green Knights once again made it a four-point game, 20-16 and Hiram took a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Terriers responded, scoring four of the next five to pull within one, and six of the next eight to knot the score at 22-all.

Ben Rinella gave St. Norbert a one-point, 23-22, lead with a block, but again, Hiram rolled off three-straight points to finish off the match with a 25-23, third-set victory.

Hiram moves to 1-0 with the victory, while St. Norbert drops to 0-2 with the loss.

Supan led the Terriers with a game-high 18 kills (.343) adding five digs and four aces, while Jake Lininger notched a game-high 21 assists. Diaz also recorded double-digit assists with 19, while Phelan notched 12 digs.

As a team, the Terriers hit .337, while holding the Green Knights to just a .122 hitting percentage.

Hiram will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 18, when they wrap up their tri-match against the Saint Vincent College, Bears at 2 p.m. at Price Gymnasium.