King and Mount Olive registered sweeps to stay among the top three in the Conference Carolinas standings, while No. 16 George Mason picked up an EIVA sweep on Saturday afternoon. Harvard notched a non-conference victory over Alderson Broaddus, while No. 15 Concordia Irvine delved deep in its lineup in a four-set win over Benedictine.
#15 Concordia Irvine def. Benedictine 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-22)
- Concordia Irvine moves to 11-13; Benedictine falls to 17-5
- Surprise, Arizona
- Box Score
- Concordia Irvine Recap / Benedictine Recap
Key Stats: In the first of two Saturday matches in Surprise, Arizona, the Eagles outhit Benedictine .214 to .065. Concordia Irvine also boasted a 47-36 lead in kills and 13-10 edge in blocks. The Eagles bookended the match with a .429 hitting effort and .355 clip, while hitting under .100 in between. For its part, Benedictine hit at a team-high .219 clip in the final stanza.
Stat Leaders: Senior outside Jonathan Predney led a group of four Eagles with nine or more kills. Predney downed 13 kills, while freshman opposite Owen Chun (10), junior middle Hunter Howell (9) and freshman outside Jonathan Carlson (9) followed. Howell hit at a team-high .400 clip and put up seven blocks, while Predney added a team-leading three aces and eight digs.
Senior outside Logan Adcock chalked up 12 putaways and two aces to pace Benedictine. Sophomore outside Bobby Henige (7), senior middle Devin Hill (6), sophomore middle Sam Buckels (5) and junior setter Jaron Jones (4) rounded out the offense. Buckels chipped in a team-leading six blocks, while Jones added five along with 26 assists, eight digs and four kills on a team-high .375 hitting effort.
It Was Over When: Benedictine led 9-4 in Set 4 with help from two aces and a kill by Adcock. Concordia Irvine was within two five times, last at 14-12, but could not break through. A block and a kill by Jones made it 17-12 Redhawks. The Eagles rallied from there, tying it up at 18 en route to a 21-19 advantage of their own. Four Predney putaways guided the Concordia rally. A Henige kill slowed the Eagles momentarily, but Concordia capped the win on a 4-1 run. Carlson downed to kills to make it 24-22 and a hitting error accounted for the final point.
King def. Emmanuel 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-11)
- King moves to 15-5, 11-1 Conference Carolinas); Emmanuel falls 9-14, 5-9 Conference Carolinas
- Franklin Springs, Georgia
- Box Score
- King Recap / Emmanuel Recap
Key Stats: The Tornado racked up 9.5 blocks and served up eight aces in a sweep of Emmanuel to earn its fourth straight win. King outdid Emmanuel in kills (26-20), hitting efficiency (.197 to .000), aces (8-5) and blocks (9.5 to 2).
Stat Leaders: Senior outside Jeff Sprayberry led all hitters with 11 kills for King, while hitting at a .455 clip and serving up two aces. Freshman outside Sean Kohlhase and senior right side Kiel Bell added five putaways each, while junior middle Jon Wheaton added four. Kohlhase and Wheaton also served up two aces apiece, while Wheaton and senior middle Adrian Besson put up a team-high four blocks.
Senior middle Ackeem West was tops among Emmanuel players with six kills and three aces. Sophomore middle Don Thompson added five putaways and a team-high two blocks, while hitting at a team-leading .250 clip. Sophomore outside Manuel Melenciano and sophomore outside Aleksa Lakic chipped in three kills each.
It Was Over When: King raced out to a 20-4 lead in Set 3, scoring 10 points on Emmanuel miscues and four on blocks, three by Kohlase, and kills by four different players. The Lions rallied with six of the next nine points with help from four Tornado errors and an ace by Marvin Castellon. With a 23-10 lead, King finished off the win with a Sean Luhmann kill and a solo stuff by Wheaton.
Mount Olive def. North Greenville 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-17)
- Mount Olive moved to 14-10, 10-3 Conference Carolinas; NGU falls to 11-13, 5-7 Conference Carolinas
- Mount Olive, North Carolina
- Box Score
- NGU Recap / UMO Recap
Key Stats: Mount Olive hit .286 or better in all three sets, including a match-high .375 effort in Set 3. For the match, the Trojans outhit the Crusaders .329 to .139, while also boasting a 7-2 lead in aces and 36-28 edge in kills. North Greenville topped UMO at the net with a 5-4 edge in blocks.
Stat Leaders: Senior opposite Robert Poole led the way for the Trojans with 11 kills, three aces and two blocks, while hitting a .529 clip. Senior opposite Bret Rutledge added nine kills, three aces and a team-high six digs, while senior outside Kian Hollevoet chipped in eight kills. Sophomore middle Yigit Erkek also put up two blocks and two kills.
Sophomore outside Jackson Gilbert and sophomore middle Ben Hamsho notched a team-high seven putaways for the Crusaders. Hamsho hit at a team-high .417 clip , while Gilbert added a team-best three digs. Senior middle Matthew McManaway posted five kills and two aces, while junior opposite Aaron Campbell put up a team-leading three blocks.
It Was Over When: North Greenville took an early 6-4 lead in Set 3, but Mount Olive responded with eight of the next 10 points. Poole registered two kills and an ace, while the Crusaders chipped in two points on errors, as the Trojans went up 12-8. NGU pulled within one three times, last at 15-14 as Deon Vidal added two putaways and McManaway turned in a kill and an ace. Mount Olive wrapped up the match with 10 of the final 13 points. Three miscues, two Luke Visgitis putaways and an ace by Erkek highlighted the final run. Hollevoet issued the final kill at 25-17.
#16 George Mason def. Charleston 3-0 (25-15, 29-27, 25-21)
- George Mason moves to 12-10, 8-0 EIVA; Charleston falls 11-8, 3-7 EIVA
- Charleston, West Virginia
- Box Score
- GMU Recap / Charleston Recap
Key Stats: A 44-26 lead in kills and a 7-0 advantage in aces led the Patriots in the sweep. George Mason hit .643 in the opening set with just one error, but struggled to reach .150 the rest of the way, despite registering the victories. The Patriots boasted an 8-7 lead in blocks and held the Golden Eagles to a .156 hitting effort. The victory moves GMU to 7-0 in EIVA play, its best conference start since 2003.
Stat Leaders: Junior outside Kyle Barnes and sophomore opposite Hayden Wagner turned in 12 kills apiece to lead George Mason to victory. Wagner was one of three players to served up two aces in the match alongside redshirt senior outside Christian Malias and senior right side Brian Negron. Sophomore middle Bryce Gatling (7) and redshirt freshman middle Jack Reese (6) rounded out the offense. Reese hit at a team-high .365 clip and added three blocks, while Gatling hit .333 and put up a team-leading four stuffs.
Six Charleston players posted three or more kills led by freshman outside Max Senica‘s six. Junior middle Eugene Stuart added five putaways followed by sophomore middle Adriel Roberts (4), senior outside Ryan Santos (4), junior outside Brandon Greenway (3) and senior setter Anthony Rivera (3). Roberts put up a team-high three blocks, while Santos and Stuart added two apiece. Senica chipped in five digs, while Greenway added four behind senior libero Darrin Depellegrini.
It Was Over When: George Mason scored the first three points of Set 3, including an ace by Malias and held on to lead 7-4. Charleston scored five of the next six, including back to back blocks by Roberts, which gave the Eagles a 9-8 advantage. Later, trailing 11-10, the Patriots countered with a 7-2 run, thanks to two kills and an ace by Wagner, and two blocks and a kill by Gatlin. Down as many as four, last at 20-16, the Eagles chipped away, cutting the margin to one at 21-20 and 22-21. Four GMU miscues and kills by four different players highlighted the stretch. The Patriots scored three straight with a Wagner kill, a stuff by Gatling and an ace by Barnes to seal the 25-21 win and the sweep.
Harvard def. Alderson Broaddus 3-0 (25-8, 25-14, 26-24)
- Harvard moves to 7-11; Alderson Broaddus falls to 3-15
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Box Score
- Harvard Recap / Alderson Broaddus Recap
Key Stats: Harvard dominated the Battlers at the net in a non-conference sweep. The Crimson boasted a .253 to .048 advantage in hitting efficiency, thanks in part to a 10.5 to 7 lead in blocks. Harvard also led 34-23 in kills and 5-1 in aces. The Crimson outhit Alderson Broaddus .588 to .042 in Set 1 and also was more efficient in the final two stanzas, including a .147 to .121 advantage in a very close Set 3.
Stat Leaders: Senior outside Jack Heavey paced Harvard with 10 kills, while senior setter Marko Kostich and freshman outside Adam Gordon added six putaways apiece. Kostich also added a team-high seven digs, 14 assists and two aces. Senior middle Riley Moore chipped in seven blocks and four kills, while hitting at a team-high .557 clip. Sophomore setter Matt Ctvrtlik also added four kills, three blocks and 11 assists while hitting .500.
Senior outside Francisco Cabrera was tops among the Battlers with seven kills, but hit just .040 in the match. Senior middle Myles Miller followed with six kills on a team-high .417 hitting effort to go with a team-leading four blocks and an ace. Freshman outside Alex Sands and freshman middle Chase Christiansen added four putdowns apiece.
It Was Over When: After a tie at 6-all, Alderson Broaddus broke away with a 6-1 run. Two blocks and a kill by Miller coupled with three Harvard miscues put the Battlers on top 12-7. The Crimson was back within one at 14-13 thanks to three AB errors and two Gordon putaways. Four Harvard miscues pushed the Battler lead to four at 19-15. The Crimson rallied to tie the score at 22 and 23 and fought off a set-point effort at 24-23, before stealing away the win. Four players contributed kills en route to the knot-up at 22. A Kostich putaway thwarted the Alderson Broaddus set point try, while a block and another kill by the senior wrapped up the day.
Leave a Reply