GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's volleyball team blew past the King Tornado on Tuesday (Apr. 9) night, shutting out the visitors in the season's home finale.
The Pioneers (7-22) took the wind out of the Tornado (6-19) by scores of 25-23, 25-21, 25-15.
King was led by AJ Drooker with 13 kills, followed by Kellan Kennedy with nine strikes on a .667 hitting percentage. Aiden Olson distributed 26 assists, while he and Kennedy notched the two service aces. Justin Sawyer tallied six digs as Grayson Stoudt was credited with a pair of blocks.
For Tusculum, both Colby Landry and Deklan Wingo reached double figures in kills with 13 and 12, respectively, as both hit over .500. Joel Dubinsky (6), Jaden Bramhall (4), Morgan Makovec (3), and Tristan Blake (1) rounded out the scoring. Blake dished out 32 assists as the Pioneer setter. Defensively, Blake also led the way with nine digs, just ahead of Landry's eight. At the net, Bramhall had a hand in three blocks, including a solo rejection.
King hit .152 as a team with 37 kills and 23 attack errors on 92 total attempts. Tusculum hit .423 with 39 kills, nine errors, and 71 total attacks. The Pioneers led the match in assists (36-34), digs (28-21), and total blocks (5-3), while the Tornado tallied more service aces (2-0).
The opening set was the most tightly contested of the night, featuring 17 ties and eight lead changes. TU started out hot, hitting .550, aided by Landry's 4-for-4 performance. Wingo tallied five kills in the first frame as well. Neither team had more than a two-point gap until King garnered an 8-5 edge. Tusculum rallied, winning five of the next six scores. King was the first to hold a three-point advantage again at 17-14. Yet again, the Pioneers rebounded for a 5-of-6 surge. The Tornado led 22-21 but a service error and Landry kill forced a timeout by the visitors. After evening the score, Tusculum went to Landry and closed out the set on a King miscue.
Set two heavily favored the Pioneers as the only tie and lead change happened within the first three points of the frame. Tusculum led from 2-1 in the second set until the end of the match. TU relied on its defense, tallying 15 digs and used all three of its solo blocks (Bramhall, Makovec, and Blake). The Pioneers' largest lead was seven at 14-7 before King crawled within two. Landry got the penultimate kill before Blake's solo stuff to take a 2-0 match lead.
Tusculum never trailed in set three, shooting out to a 4-0 lead, forcing King to call for a pause. The Tornado gifted the Pioneers six points on service errors in the frame. TU's largest lead grew to 10 at 24-14 with four kills by Landry in the stretch. Dubinsky finished off the match with his career-best sixth kill.
Tusculum turns its attention to the Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament this weekend (Apr. 12-13), hosted by Thomas More in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The Pioneers are seeded fourth and will face the top seeded Lincoln Memorial in the second semifinal match on Friday at 7 p.m.
