RECAPPING THE WEEK
The Pioneers (4-14) lost their lone contest of the week to King, but took one set in the rematch.
Shaun Kampshoff and Matteo Miselli had outstanding efforts in the match, landing 15 kills each. Kampshoff needed only three sets and fired at a .357 clip. Lucas Blanco finished with 33 assists in the loss, meanwhile Arthur Amorim and Hunter Walck picked up the Pioneer service aces. Kampshoff was the frontrunner in the dig column, scooping up nine, ahead of Miselli's seven. Ivan Sosa and Peter Stewart added six apiece. Sosa made his presence known at the net, assisting on five blocks, followed by Kampshoff's trio.
As a team, Tusculum is 17th nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.232) and 24th in aces per set (1.31). Individually, Miselli is across the top-15 in four categories: aces per set (9th; .521), attacks per set (10th; 8.85), points per set (11th; 4.60), and kills per set (13th; 3.83). Blanco is also 29th in assists per set with a 7.98 average.
LOOKING AHEAD
Bluefield (1-12) won its first match of the season on Friday. In the January meeting between the Pioneers and Rams, Tusculum took the contest in straight sets by identical 25-18 scores. Carleek Owens leads the squad with 81 kills, just ahead of 76 from Devon Robinson. Caleb Word has dished out 252 assists, while both he and Colby Mutter have landed nine aces. Mutter has collected 88 digs, followed by Robinson with 77. At the net, Eric Duron has totaled 33 blocks and his brother Alex is credited with 18.
Randolph-Macon (5-13) will play Tusculum in its first Division II opponent of the season. Kolby Gibson and Lee Olenyik have contributed 158 and 150 kills, respectively. Jarett Carrano (293) and James Manning (231) have been the distributors for the Yellow Jackets, each in their freshman season. Four players for Randolph-Macon have reached double-digit aces, led by Carrano's 16. He also heads up the dig category, collecting 150. Sean Cunningham and Lenny Sampson have combined for 51 total blocks as the team's best net defense.
Links to live stats and video for Tusculum University athletic events can be found through tusculumpioneers.com.
