With just three matches occurring over a two day span, we decided to combine things into one post. Yesterday, King – off the ends of being ranked and winning a league title – took down Lincoln Memorial in what was a league tournament tune-up for both squads. The action continued into Wednesday night as a meeting in the middle in the Conference Carolinas and a matchup between EIVA and Division III’s #1 team took place:
April 10:
#18 King Def. Lincoln Memorial 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-20)
- #18 King 20-5 (15-1 Conf. Carolinas); LMU 12-13
- Box Score
- King Press Release
- Lincoln Memorial Press Release
There was no hangover for King after winning the Conference Carolinas title last week, as they used this match against LMU as a tune-up for the league tournament starting next Tuesday. It also represents the second consecutive 20-win season for King, a prestigious mark to say the least. The defense and serve wasn’t at its best on the day for the Tornado, but their offense hummed to the tune of a .307 clip as they also held LMU to zero aces. Kiel Bell (10 kills, 12 digs) put up big numbers but struggled in efficiency, which was made up for by Jeff Sprayberry (15 kills, .314, eight digs) who continues his fantastic season. For LMU, this was also a tune-up for the IVA Tournament in a few days as they have a legit shot to win a championship as the #2 seed headed into that.
April 11:
NJIT Def. Springfield 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23)
- NJIT 8-16 (4-8 EIVA); Springfield 28-2 (Division III)
- Box Score
- NJIT Press Release
For just the second time all season long, Springfield went down in a match, as the team playing out of the Division III classification who had even reached up and taken down (RV) Harvard earlier this season fell to NJIT. Both losses now for the #1 team in Division III have come to Division I-II schools as NJIT joins Concordia Irvine. For the Highlanders, it gets them going for a big week in EIVA play as they need two wins to have a chance at the EIVA Tournament. In regard to that storyline, NJIT should feel good about how its offense played, as if they can re-kindle what allowed them to hit .345 with three players in double-digit kills they could be in a good spot this week.
North Greenville Def. Belmont Abbey 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-13, 25-19)
- NGU 13-15 (7-9 Conf. Carolinas); Belmont Abbey 12-15 (8-8 Conf. Carolinas)
- Box Score
- North Greenville Press Release
- Belmont Abbey Press Release
Belmont Abbey was met by an onslaught of the NGU offense and block after taking the first set, as North Greenville outscored BAC 75-50 in the final three sets. In total, NGU outhit BAC .376 to .183 and out-blocked them 11.5 to 4.5. 23 serve errors for Belmont Abbey didn’t help either. What’s most interesting about this though is both teams could use it as a bit of scouting, as sure enough with these being the #4 and #5 seeds in the Conference Carolinas (which was the case regardless of this result), the two meet in the league’s quarterfinals in a week. It will be interesting to see what both teams take away from this match as they go again soon.
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