GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's volleyball team will be playing its first home match in over a month on Saturday when the Pioneers play host to the Queens University of Charlotte Royals in an IVA matchup.

RECAPPING THE WEEK
The Black and Orange had a long, tough week while playing four matches and going 1-3 in the span. Tusculum picked up a reverse sweep of Urbana in the five-set thriller to claim the season series over the Blue Knights.

Matteo Miselli earned the Off the Block National Freshman of the Week for his performances. He set the new program record for kills in a match with 25 at Lees-McRae. The Reggio Emilia, Italy native repeated the effort against Urbana. He did so efficiently with hitting percentages of .349 and .429, respectively.

Overall, Miselli led the team with 55 kills, followed by Shaun Kampshoff's 34. Mackenzie Scott (18), Shaphar Grant (13), Hunter Walck (13), and Arthur Amorim (10) also reached double-figures in the category. Lucas Blanco averaged 7.87 assists per set for a total of 118 in the team's 15 sets played. Miselli led at the line, recording five service aces, just ahead of Blanco's trio.

Defensively, Peter Stewart held the slight edge with 21 digs, while Jaret Knight scooped up 20. At the net, Ivan Sosa is credited with nine block assists, followed by eight total blocks from Grant (one solo, seven assists).

In the national rankings, Tusculum is 13^th in opponent hitting percentage with .229. The Pioneers are also 20^th with 1.37 aces per set. Individually, Miselli is among the top-15 in four categories: aces per set (7^th; .561), points per set (7^th; 4.67), attacks per set (8^th; 8.90), and kills per set (13^th; 3.88). Blanco is 30^th with an assists per set average of 7.91.

LOOKING AHEAD
Queens (5-8, 1-0 IVA) will face reigning IVA champion Lincoln Memorial on Friday before staying in Tennessee to battle the Pioneers on Saturday. Tristan Santoyo has collected 178 kills, followed by Nic Cavallaro's 98, nearly doubling his teammate. As the setter, Brandon Grabow has dished out 310 assists, averaging 7.75 per set. Santoyo and Cavallaro also lead at the service line with 15 and 10 aces, respectively. Defensively, Santoyo (86), Josh Bragg (80), and Cavallaro (75) head up the dig category. The Royals have six players with over 20 total blocks on the season: Cody Nix (29), Santoyo (27), Aleksandar Perisic (25), Grabow (22), JP Payne (22), and Bragg (21).

Links to live stats and video for Tusculum University athletic events can be found through tusculumpioneers.com.