CHICAGO – The No. 7 ranked and No. 1 seed Saint Xavier University men's volleyball team (21-8/10-0 CCAC) won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament Championship for the fifth year in a row (2019, 21-24) that the tournament has been held as the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Cougars swept Calumet College of St. Joseph (25-16, 25-17, 25-22) Saturday afternoon on Bob Hallberg Court at the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill. With the win, SXU earns an automatic berth into the 2024 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship Tournament that takes places from April 30-May 4 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Saint Xavier will be making its fifth appearance in the national tournament, joining Grand View University (Iowa) as the only programs to qualify for all five tournaments as the Vikings won the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Tournament title.

• The Cougars posted their best team attack percentage of the season at .413 (39-8-75) after they had eight matches a year ago with an attack percentage of .400 or better. The last time they surpassed a team attack percentage of .400 or better was also in the CCAC Tournament Championship, on April 1, 2023 against Judson University (Ill.) at .494 (47-9-77).
• Sophomore outside hitter Jan Lopuch (Krakow, Poland/I Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace Sportowego) tied for a match-high with 10 kills on a .381 attack percentage (10-2-21). He added nine digs, a block and a service ace that ended the match.
• Junior outside hitter Matt Pennala (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach City/St. John Bosco) also collected 10 kills on an attack percentage of .389 (10-3-18). He also had seven digs, two assists and two blocks.
• Fifth-year senior setter Christian Oviedo (Brea, Calif./Concordia-Irvine/Servite) finished with a match-best 30 assists, along with three digs.
• Junior outside hitter Sean Carey (Skokie, Ill./Niles West) tallied seven kills on a .429 attack percentage (7-1-14) with an assist and a dig.
• Fifth-year senior middle blocker Drew Ehlers (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) recorded six kills on 10 attempts (.600) while adding two blocks (one solo).
• Sophomore libero Andres Velez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/St. Francis) scooped up eight digs, along with three assists and an ace.
• Freshman setter Cameron Daniels (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) registered a match-high three service aces, redshirt-junior middle blocker Shane Ooms (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community) added three kills and a dig, and senior middle blocker Jake McClain (Homer Glen, Ill./Marist) chipped in a service ace.

No. 7 Saint Xavier (21-8/10-0 CCAC) will find out who they play in the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship Tournament when the national office announces the pairings on the NAIA YouTube channel on Monday, April 22 at 4:00 pm.