MOUNT OLIVE (Feb. 8) – The University of Mount Olive men's volleyball program completed a perfect weekend to begin Conference Carolinas action following a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-15, 25-22) over Lees-McRae on Saturday afternoon at Kornegay Arena.
With the win, the Trojans extend their winning streak to fourth in a row and improve to 6-2 this season with a 2-0 mark in conference play. Mount Olive continued its near-perfect record versus the Bobcats as they picked up their 27th win in the last 28 meetings dating back to 2012. Meanwhile, the Bobcats move to 0-9 overall with 0-2 in league play.
Sophomore
Matthew Ekberg tied for the team lead with eight kills, adding two blocks and five digs. Fellow sophomore
Christos Savvidis also filled the stat sheet as he finished with eight kills, one ace, two blocks, and four digs. Senior
Tate Sandvig tallied five kills on a .571 hitting percentage while freshman
Wyatt Jones also contributed five kills. Junior
Jackson Lahey directed the offense with 28 assists and three digs against the Bobcats.
Freshman
Luca Colombo found himself controlling the match as he continuously cleaned up second-chance opportunities from the Bobcats as the Trojan libero ended with 10 digs.
In the opening set, the sides traded service and pass errors as neither side was able to record the first kill of the contest until Jadon Ciriacks of Lees-McRae gave the Bobcats a 6-5 lead. With both teams still trying to get a feel of one another early on, the Trojans looked in a good position to take the opening set as they led 13-11 but with a flurry of answers by the Bobcats, the Mount Olive lead was challenged right until the near end of the first set. It wasn't until a big kill by Ekberg to grab a 21-18 allowed UMO to pull away and eventually seal a 25-21 win.
The Trojans found themselves on the right side of a couple of huge runs in the second set, which gave the Bobcats too much to handle. After a big attack through the middle by junior
Constantinos Iacovou, Mount Olive saw themselves in front 7-3 to start the set. After trading points, the Trojans exploded for an 8-2 run which propelled them into a 21-13 lead behind a .500 clip during that stretch. The Trojans would claim the second set by a 25-15 margin.
The third set brought along the best display of volleyball seen by the opposition on the afternoon as the Bobcats provided a scare near the end. Five big team blocks put the Mount Olive hitting percentage to .125 in the set. The Trojans didn't help themselves as they had four service errors and 10 attacking errors in the set. The two sides found themselves locked at 20-20 before UMO used a 5-2 run with a pair of kills by Jones to close out the final set 25-22.
The Trojans will be idle for the week before traveling to league-favorite Belmont Abbey on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
