Barton & King in a Race to the Finish; Conference Carolinas Update (Mar. 27)

Conference Carolinas action progressed this week after a slow period as the same story lines of Barton winning and King keeping up right on their heels continued. Some interesting action occurred in the middle of the standings too, as the race for the four seed is incredible close between teams fourth through seventh in the league table.

With new story-lines emerging and a new season of sorts in league play commencing, VolleyMob will be giving conference updates. Below is analysis as well as the weekly Conference Carolinas table, awards, matches of the week and power rankings:

CONFERENCE CAROLINAS TABLE:

WEEKLY HONORS:

• Conference Carolinas Weekly Awards

MATCHES OF THE WEEK:

• Mar. 27: Erskine at Princeton
• Mar. 27: King at North Greenville
• Mar. 28: Erskine at NJIT
• Mar. 28: Lees-McRae at Queens
• Mar. 29: Lees-McRae at Limestone

VOLLEYMOB CONFERENCE CAROLINAS POWER RANKINGS:

1. Barton
2. King
3. Mount Olive
4. Belmont Abbey
5. North Greenville
6. Limestone
7. Emmanuel
8. Erskine
9. Lees-McRae

SPRINTING TO THE FINISH

• (RV) Barton Bulldogs

Remaining Schedule:

• vs. Mount Olive (10-3)
• at King (11-1)
• at Lees-McRae (0-11)

The Bulldogs have now collected a dozen consecutive victories, as they remain unbeaten in Conference Carolinas action. They are fastly approaching the regular season finish line, and have yet to tumble, but will get one last push from the other top two teams in the league. That includes on the road against King – although the conference postseason tournament is truly what matters in determining an NCAA bid. Barton swept King the first go around behind an efficient offense and strong floor defense, but this one should be tighter on the road in figuring out if Barton can claim the league title – and do it outright.

ONE LAST STAND

• King Tornado

Remaining Schedule:

• at NGU (5-7)
• at Limestone (4-9)
• vs. Barton (13-0)
• vs. Mount Olive (10-3)
• vs. Lincoln Memorial

Barton’s magic number to winning a share of the regular season league title is two, with an outright coming at 3. That means King’s elimination number from earning at least a share is three, with a loss at home to Barton knocking two of those off. Should they down Barton though, the teams would move back into a tie with just number of sets and/or points won in the head-to-head matches applying as a tiebreaker for the one seed. And in a league where the three seed has been a legit threat and the four seed is under .500, that difference could be huge in the postseason tournament.