Match Stats
- King def. Southern Virginia 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-17)
- King def. Lindenwood 3-2 (26-24, 11-25, 17-25, 25-21, 16-14)
- King moves to 17-2, Southern Virginia falls to 17-5, Lindenwood falls to 2-15
King (TN) maintained their spot near the top of the Conference Carolinas with their record-setting 16th and 17th wins of the season in a double-header on Friday.
Press Releases
Courtesy King Athletics:
BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University men’s volleyball team made history on Friday afternoon in the Student Center Complex when they swept Southern Virginia University. The 3-0 victory gave King a school record 16 wins on the season. The Tornado added another win to that later Friday night in come-from-behind fashion, defeating Lindenwood University 3-2.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, Southern Virginia 0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-17); King 3, Lindenwood 2 (26-24, 11-25, 17-25, 25-21, 16-14)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 17-2; Southern Virginia 17-5; Lindenwood 2-15
HOW IT HAPPENED – SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
The Tornado got off to a slow start as Southern Virginia opened a 7-2 lead in the first set.
The Knights held that lead throughout the set, and led 19-15 until the Tornado went on a run.
Jeff Sprayberry registered back-to-back kills to get the Tornado offense going.
King later evened the set at 20 and used three straight points capped by and Adam Krzos kill to take a 23-21 lead.
The Tornado then took the final two points, winning the set 25-22.
In the second set, King broke a 5-5 tie with a 6-1 run, capped by a Jon Wheaton solo block.
The Knights came back, however, scoring six consecutive points to take a 12-11 lead.
Kiel Bell got evened the score with a kill, starting a 4-0 King run that put the Tornado ahead 15-12.
King later scored nine of the final 10 points to take the set 25-15.
Krzos started a 5-0 run for the Tornado in the third set with a kill, his first of four in the set.
Dalton Johnson later gave King a 12-6 lead following one of his six kills in the match.
King held the lead from there, and Johnson gave King the 25-17 and 3-0 win with another kill.
Sprayberry led King with 10 kills and Matthew DeLong handed out 28 assists.
Bell registered nine kills and nine digs while Wheaton posted five block assists and two solo stuffs.
FOR THE FOES
Paul Clark led the way for Southern Virginia with 10 kills and five digs.
Kaipo Tagaloa handed out 30 assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED – LINDENWOOD
The beginning of the first set was tight early, but the Lions held the advantage.
Lindenwood led 16-13 before Eddie Moushikhian sparked a 3-0 King run with one of his four kills in the set.
The set was even at 18-18 before the Lions started to gain separation, taking a 24-20 lead.
However, the Tornado scored the final six points of the set, taking the frame 26-24. Sprayberry started the spurt with a kill and Nick Drooker gave King the set with a service ace.
Lindenwood bounced back, taking the second set 25-11 and the third set 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead.
The Lions used a 5-0 run in the middle of the third set to gain separation.
The Tornado fell behind 11-7 in the fourth set, but used a 5-1 run to take a 13-12 lead. Consecutive kills from Moushikhian and Adrian Besson gave King a 13-12 lead.
Lindenwood later held a 20-16 advantage, but King went on another run, scoring nine of the next 10 points to taket the set 25-21.
Back-to-back blocks from Moushikhian and Besson forced Lion timeout with King lead 23-21. Drooker again ended the set with an ace.
Lindenwood again took a 12-9 lead in the fifth set, but King came back, score four straight points as the Lions took a pair of timeouts. Sprayberry started the run with a kill and Moushikhian added two kills on the spurt.
The set was even at 14-14 before Moushikhian gave King a chance at match point before Besson and Drooker teamed up for a block, giving King the set 16-14 and the match 3-2.
Moushikhian led King with 16 kills to go along with nine digs and five blocks.
Sean Luhmann followed with 10 kills.
Drooker handed out 41 assists to go along with eight digs.
Jimmy Nickolls led the defense with 13 digs and Besson posted a team-high six blocks.
FOR THE FOES
Blake Koppel led Lindenwood with 14 kills and five digs.
Connor Hipelius followed with 13 kills and 12 block assists.
Nathan Van Dellen accounted for 11 kills, six digs and seven blocks.
Adam Brewster posted 47 assists and Ryan Vorderer led the defense with 18 digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
King has broken the record for wins in a season, as they have 17 this year. The previous record was 15 in the 2015 season.
UP NEXT
King hosts Eastern Mennonite University and Alderson Broaddus University on Saturday. The Tornado take on Eastern Mennonite at 1:00 p.m. and the Battlers at 5:00 p.m.
Lindenwood takes on Lees-McRae College on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the Student Center.
Courtesy Southern Virginia Athletics:
Not available as of time of posting.
Courtesy Lindenwood Athletics:
The Lindenwood men’s volleyball team dominated the second set against King University, 25-11, on Friday night in Bristol, Tenn., but the Lions dropped two of the next three sets to lose in five frames.
After falling 26-24 in the first set, the Lions controlled each of the next two frames to get the 2-1 lead. Lindenwood dropped the fourth set 25-21 before surrendering a lead in the deciding game to lose 16-14. Lindenwood recorded a sideout percentage of 68, while King finished the match at 59 percent. There were a combined 25 ties throughout the match, while the lead changed nine times.
The success before the downfall gives head coach Kris Dorn hope for someting better. “We simply cannot stop doing wht we know is working for us,” Dorn said.
“We turned a corner last weekend and we need to refuse to look back at what we used to be.”
Connor Hipelius led Lindenwood with 22.5 points. The sophomore had 13 kills while attacking at a .565 rate, while also being a part of 12 blocks. Blake Koppel led the team with 14 kills.
Nathan Van Dellen and Karsten Staples combined for 21 kills and 29.5 points. Van Dellen and Michael Chard each had six digs, while Hipelius and Staples combined for nine.
Adam Brewster dished out 47 assists on the night, while also tallying five digs and teamed up for four blocks. The sophomore also had two kills. The team combined for 15 blocks compared to King’s seven. Ryan Vorderer led with 18 digs, the second-highest mark of his career.
“Tomorrow we need to unleash the full potency of our style of offense,” Dorn continued.
The loss drops Lindenwood to 2-15 on the season. The Lions will continue its non-conference road trip tomorrow night when it plays Lees-McRae in Bristol, Tenn. for a 6 p.m. match time.
Leave a Reply