John Nunns recorded 14 kills and served three of his career-high six aces in the third set as Mount Olive defeated Barton 25-18, 25-11, 25-10 in Conference Carolinas men's volleyball Tuesday at Kornegay Arena. The match was the conference opener for both teams.

Mount Olive (2-2, 1-0 Conference Carolinas) took the lead for good in the opening set when Jack Tutty's kill broke a 4-4 tie and ignited a 6-1 run. Barton (0-4, 0-1) got as close as 16-12 after Tanner Medina contributed to blocks on back-to-back points. But Nunns answered with his first ace of the match and Adam Miracle and Renzo Rossato followed with kills as the Trojans went on to take the first set.

The Trojans jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the second set as Nunns accounted for three consecutive points on back-to-back kills and a block with Miracle. The margin reached double digits at 19-9 on a kill by Nunns as Mount Olive scored seven of the final nine points to take a two-set lead.

Nunns helped spark Mount Olive to a 12-2 lead in the third set with three aces during his six-point service run. Back-to-back aces by Alex Vazquez helped the Trojans extend their advantage to 19-4. Mount Olive scored the final three points of the match on consecutive kills by Nunns, Alex Sokol and Vazquez.

Mount Olive committed only nine attack errors in the match - no more than four in any set - recorded a .459 team hitting percentage. Nunns finished with a .550 hitting percentage with only three errors in 20 attempts. Miracle, Rossato and Tutty added five kills apiece and committed only three attack errors in a combined 26 attempts (.462). Tutty had no errors in seven attempts to improve his season hitting percentage to .585.

Trojan setter Jackson Metichecchia recorded 31 assists, while Rossato and Vazquez finished with two aces apiece.

Zach McCallah led Barton with six kills, while Alx Draughan served three aces. Jordan Robison finished with 13 assists and two aces.

Mount Olive returns to action this weekend as the Trojans play host to Division I Indiana University of Purdue University-Fort Wayne (IPFW) for a pair of matches at Kornegay Arena. The two teams face each other Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.