HIRAM, Ohio—The Mount Union men's volleyball team started off its 2023 season with a sweep of Hiram (25-19, 25-17 and 25-16) Saturday night at Price Gymnasium.
 
The Purple Raiders (1-0) were led on offense by a career-high 17 kills from senior Cameron Ternent (Canal Fulton / Massillon Jackson) and senior Luke Trzeciak (Cranberry, Pa. / Seneca Valley) with nine kills.
 
Sophomore Will Heeney (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit) led the team in assists with a game-high 30 while sophomore Aaron Armour (Waukesha, Wis. / Catholic Memorial) had a game-high nine digs.
 
Mount Union and Hiram exchanged points through the first six, but Mount Union went on a 10-2 run to go from down one to up in the first set leading 15-8 as Ternent had three kills in the run and freshman Louden Heldt (Phoenix, Az. / O'Connor) had two. Mount Union finished off the set on a Ternent kill off a pass from Armour to take set one 25-19.
 
Set two saw Hiram get the first two points but Mount Union responded with a 9-3 run thanks to multiple hitting errors from Hiram. Later in the set as the Raiders were tied at 14 an 8-1 run blew the set open in favor of Mount Union to lead 22-15. Mount Union finished the set on a 3-1 run with Trzeciak finishing the set with a kill from Heeney.
 
Mount Union got off to a hot start in the final set as they led 6-2 with two kills from Ternent and sophomore Jacob Nussdorfer (Lewis Center / Olentangy) and a kill from Trzeciak while an attack error from Hiram also helped the Raiders. Hiram got within two with the score being 8-6 but from there Mount Union took control out scoring Hiram 17-10 to finish the sweep.
 
Mount Union now heads home for the home opener on Friday, January 20th at 7 p.m. against Stevenson who is receiving votes in the preseason AVCA coaches national poll.