Mount Olive won its season opener for the fifth time in the last six years, Barton played its first-ever men's volleyball match and two teams remain unbeaten after day one of the Mount Olive College Volleyball Festival Friday at Kornegay Arena.
Mount Olive defeated Barton 3-0 in the opening match of the tournament, but fell to Quincy (Ill.) 3-1 in the final match of the night. Quincy opened with a 3-1 win over Eastern Mennonite (Va.) and is the lone 2-0 team in the tournament. Limestone posted a 3-0 win over King in its only match of the day and King rebounded for a 3-1 win over Barton.
Four matches take place Saturday morning to conclude the tournament. At 8 a.m., Eastern Mennonite faces Limestone and King takes on Quincy. At 10 a.m., Mount Olive goes up against Limestone and Barton faces Eastern Mennonite.
Mount Olive def. Barton 25-14, 25-19, 25-22
Renzo Rossato served a match-high three aces led a balanced attack with seven kills to give two-time defending Conference Carolinas champion Mount Olive a three-set victory over first-year program Barton in the opening match of the Festival. Rossato played the second and third sets as 13 different players saw action for Mount Olive. No Trojan played more than two sets.
Lukas Hoelzl, John Nunns and Jack Tutty added six kills apiece for the Trojans. Quaid Marin recorded 22 assists, while Tutty had four blocks.
Alx Draughan led all players with 12 kills for Barton, while Zach McCalla added six kills. Jordan Robison, an outside hitter pressed into service as a setter due to an injury, recorded 18 assists for the Bulldogs. Tanner Medina had two aces and a team-high three blocks.
In the first set, Mount Olive broke away from an early one-point advantage and built its first double-digit lead at 23-13 after a kill by Nunns. The Trojans closed out the set on a block by Tutty.
The second set was tied 9-9 before back-to-back aces by Rossato capped a 4-0 run that put the Trojans ahead to stay. Steven Kruse's kill on set point gave Mount Olive a two-set lead.
Barton led throughout much of the third set and was sparked by an unorthodox set by Robison, whose underhand waist-high two-handed flick with his back to the net led to a kill by Tyler Malpass and a 16-14 lead for the Bulldogs. Mount Olive rallied to tie the set 21-21 and Kruse recorded a kill and a block to help seal the win.
Quincy def. Mount Olive 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22
Quincy broke away from an 18-18 tie in the fourth set to hold on for the win over Mount Olive. Adam Miracle led the Trojans with 18 kills and six digs, while Jack Tutty had 11 kills and no errors in 15 attempts. Tutty also shared match-high honors with three blocks. Jackson Metichecchia recorded 45 assists.
Quincy's John Pranger led all players with 20 kills and only one error in 25 attempts (.760), while Joe Sokol added 16 kills. Andrew Ouano recorded 53 assists and Steven Battaglia served a match-high four aces.
Both teams finished with hitting percentages above .400: Mount Olive at .429 and Quincy at .425. The Trojans recorded at least a .400 hitting percentage in each of the four sets.
The Trojans led 7-5 in the first set and neither team led by more than one point again until Quincy took a 21-19 lead. Three of Quincy's final four points of the set came on Trojan service errors, including an error on set point.
Alex Rivero's service ace gave Mount Olive a 7-4 lead in the second set, the biggest lead by either team up to that point. But Quincy rallied as Battaglia's kill broke a 12-12 tie and put the Hawks ahead to stay. Mount Olive fought off two set points on a kill and a block by Tutty, but a Trojan service error gave Quincy a two-set lead.
Trojan freshman Lukas Hoelzl broke a 9-9 tie in the third set and put Mount Olive ahead to stay, making a diving service reception and getting credited with a kill when the ball landed on the line deep on the right side of the Quincy court. The Trojans' lead grew to as many as seven and Rivero's kill on set point forced a fourth set.
Mount Olive overcame an early 3-0 deficit and Miracle's kill gave the Trojans a 9-7 lead. But Quincy scored the next four points and the Hawks took the lead for good after Pranger's kill broke a 13-13 tie. Joe Ascher's kill on match point found an open space on the Trojan back row.
King def. Barton 3-1
King withstood a third-set rally to even its record at 1-1 in the tournament. Both of King's and Barton's matches were against Conference Carolinas opponents.
Quincy def. Eastern Mennonite 25-22, 25-16, 24-26, 25-20
Quincy built a two-set lead and almost rallied from a four-point deficit in the third set before closing out the four-set win. Steven Battaglia had 17 kills and Joe Sokol had 11 kills for Quincy, while Eastern Mennonite was paced by Kendall Garber and Greg Knight with 10 kills apiece. Ryan Lehman served five aces for Quincy.
Limestone def. King 3-0
Limestone won a battle of Conference Carolinas members in straight sets. Limestone will play two matches Saturday morning.
