MOUNT OLIVE (April 12) – The No. 20 ranked Trojans made Conference Carolinas history on Saturday afternoon, completing the first-ever undefeated league regular season with a 3-1 win (28-26, 27-29, 25-23, 25-19) over Barton on Senior Day at Kornegay Arena.
With the win, the University of Mount Olive men's volleyball program closes the regular season with a 19-3 record and a perfect 14-0 mark in league play. UMO is the first-ever Conference Carolinas program to complete the conference regular season slate undefeated. The Trojans will enter the Conference Carolinas Championship as the No. 1 seed and advance to the semifinals in Bristol, Tennessee, on April 25 at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, Barton ends its regular season with a 15-12 overall record while finishing with a 10-4 mark in conference action.
Senior Day brought out the best for the veterans in this Trojan lineup. Junior
Kory Grant led all players with 16 kills while adding two aces, one block, and nine digs. Senior
Tate Sandvig was brilliant and a go-to option in the clutch with a kill/dig double-double behind 12 kills and 10 digs on Saturday. Senior
Blake Hosic and junior
Constantinos Iacovou both tallied 10 kills while senior
Holden Maryott finished with eight kills on a .375 clip while adding five blocks. Junior
Jackson Lahey was near-perfect today as well with 53 assists, three kills, and two service aces.
Freshman libero
Luca Colombo was a lifeline on defense for UMO with six digs against the Bulldogs.
The opening set was a shock down the spines of the Trojans as they were hit with a flurry of runs. Barton had multiple three-point leads in the set and led late by a 23-20 margin. With UMO being down, they were in danger of dropping their first opening set at home all season long. Fortunately, three massive kills by a trio of Trojans sent them in front before Mount Olive eventually took the nail-biter, 28-26.
The second set was a resilient one from the side of Barton. Knowing it could ill-afford to go down two sets, they knew a set victory was needed for the road team. A rough patch of service errors allowed Barton to lead for most of the set. It had a very similar feel to it right at the end as the two sides were locked at 25-25 after a kill by Sandvig. Unfortunately for the Trojans, they fell short as Barton took the set, 29-27.
The third set proved to be another difficult battle as the sides saw five lead changes and 13 ties. Barton was ahead 17-16 late on, but Iacovou picked up two crucial kills to put UMO in front 18-17. Mount Olive held onto the lead the rest of the way, taking it 25-23.
The fourth set would showcase the top-rated Trojan offense, with 13 of their 25 points in the set coming via kills. With UMO ahead by an 18-10 margin, the Bulldogs were unable to come back as the Trojans cruised to a 25-19 win.
Mount Olive will be idle for nearly two weeks before traveling to Bristol, Tennessee, to face the winner of North Greenville/Erskine in the semifinals on Friday, April 25, at 5 p.m.
