MOUNT OLIVE, North Carolina. - The University of Mount Olive men's volleyball team defeated the Crusaders of North Greenville University 3-1, 25-14 21-25 26-24 25-23 on Friday night in Kornegay Arena.

GAME INFORMATION
The opening set started with Mount Olive using a 3-0 run to begin the set to jump out to a 13-5 lead forcing a North Greenville timeout. The timeout did little to stop the UMO pressure as out of the stoppage the Trojans went on a 5-to-1 run and moved the advantage to 18-7. The set closed with both teams exchanging points and UMO taking the final two points need for the set win 25-14.

NGU took the first point of the set and held a lead for most of the set until Mount Olive regained the lead after a UMO timeout and four unanswered points lead to a 19-18 Trojan lead. The momentum took a dramatic swing as the Crusaders called a timeout and out of the break finished the set on a 7-1 run to win the set 25-21

The third set was tied eight times as it was a much closer set before UMO finished the set scoring the final five points to take a 2-1 set advantage.

The fourth was a true back-and-forth, as both squads exchanged three points swings before simply swapping single points until NGU took a 10-8 lead. Mount Olive tried to regain the momentum with a three-point rally but it would not stand as the set went onto be tied seven more times. It was not until UMO took four unanswered points from the Crusaders that the tide truly changed and Mount Olive was able to close the set out 25-23.

TROJAN LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Jarrod Ferguson with 12 kills in the match. Nicholas Laxar tallied 44 of the team's 51 assists. Trevor Treser also had 14 digs on the night

NORTH GREENVILLE LEADERS
The Crusaders were led by Brandon Baker with 17 kills. Sergio Carrillo also collected 33 assists.

KEY MOMENT
The key moment came in the final set when UMO used a 4-0 run to regain the lead and closed out the set on a combined 8-to-5 run.

UP NEXT
Mount Olive remains at Kornegay Arena to take on Limestone on February 15 at 4 p.m.