King Defeats North Greenville Behind 16 Sprayberry Kills

Match Stats

• King def. North Greenville 3-1, (19-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-15)
• King improves to 12-2, 7-1 CC
• North Greenville falls to 4-10, 4-4 CC
• Hosted by North Greenville
• Match Stats

Press Release

Courtesy of King Athletics

The King University men’s volleyball team got off to a slow start on Wednesday night at North Greenville University. However, the Tornado came back after dropping the first set behind Jeff Sprayberry to take the 3-1 victory.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, North Greenville (19-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-15)
LOCATION: Hayes Gymnasium; Tigerville, S.C.
RECORDS: King 12-2, 7-1 Conference Carolinas; North Greenville 4-10, 4-4 Conference Carolinas

HOW IT HAPPENED

• North Greenville used a 6-0 run early in the first set to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 10-6 advantage.
• King came back to get within one on three different occasions, but couldn’t get over the hump as the Crusaders took the set 25-19.
• The Tornado got their block going in the second set, coming up with four stuffs in the frame. Nick Drooker and Adrian Besson teamed up for the first one and Besson and Eddie Moushikhian gave King an 8-7 lead with another stuff.
• Sprayberry registered one of his six kills in the second set, sparking a 5-0 Tornado run that broke a 10-10 tie.
• The Tornado held that advantage the rest of the set, taking the frame 25-18 following a Jon Wheaton kill to even the match.
• Consecutive kills from Drooker, Sprayberry and Moushikhian gave King a 10-7 lead and forced a Crusader timeout in the third set.
• Sean Luhmann started a 3-0 run with a kill before Wheaton teamed up with Sprayberry and Luhmann for back-to-back blocks to give King a 17-11 lead and force another North Greenville timeout.
• Luhmann later gave King the 25-19 win with his third kill of the set.
• Leading 6-5 in the fourth set, King separation with an 8-0 run stated with a Sprayberry kill.
• Wheaton posted a pair of blocks on the spurt and Sprayberry capped the burst with a service ace.
• King later scored five straight points before Wheaton gave King six of the final seven points to take the set 25-15 and the match 3-1.
• Sprayberry led the Tornado offense, hitting .400 with 16 kills to go along with a team-high seven digs.
• Wheaton also hit .400 in the match, recording nine kills to go along with five blocks, one solo stuff.
• Moushikhian added eight kills while Besson posted six kills and three blocks.
• Drooker handed out 40 assists and added four digs while Luhmann chipped in with six kills.

FOR THE FOES

• Ben Hamsho led the way for North Greenville with 16 kills while Matthew McManaway followed with 12 kills.
• Alexander Schinzing dished out 40 assists and Dustin King recorded 13 digs.

UP NEXT

• King travels to Limestone College on Saturday. First serve from Gaffney, S.C. is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
• North Greenville travels to take on Lees-McRae College on Saturday.

Press Release

Courtesy of North Greenville Athletics

Ben Hamsho pounded out 16-kills on Wednesday night in North Greenville’s 3-1 loss to King University.

Hamsho turned in an impressive performance, committing just one error on 25 total attempts. He finished the night hitting .600 to lead all players with at least four attempts. Matthew McManaway joined Hamsho with 12-kills of his own but it was all for not as the Crusaders fell to the league’s second ranked Tornado.

The night started out ideal for NGU which was looking to add a fifth conference win. The Crusaders jumped out to a big lead in the first set as a service error from the Tornado gave NGU a 16-14 edge. King cut the lead to one point but the Crusaders finished the game on a 6-1 run to earn a 25-19 lead.

The Tornado bounced back in the second frame as North Greenville’s offense began to faulter. The Crusaders had 15-kills in the second but committed nine-errors. The Tornado countered with their best showing of the night, hitting .421 en route to a 25-18 win over NGU.

The Crusaders’ struggles continued in the third and fourth sets as they had just 115-kills combined to go along with 10-errors. The Tornado finished the night with 47-kills compared to 41 for NGU. The Tornado earned wins of 25-19 and 25-15 to drop North Greenville to 4-4 in league play.

The Crusaders fell to 4-19 overall on the season after Wednesday’s loss. North Greenville will travel to Lees-McRae on February 25^th for a 7pm first serve.