GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team nearly forced a second-straight five set match but fell to North Greenville on Tuesday (Jan. 23) inside Pioneer Arena.

The Pioneers (1-4) dropped the contest to the Crusaders (1-3) by scores of 17-25, 25-20, 25-21, 28-26.

Diego Rosich notched 14 kills on a .458 hitting percentage to head up the North Greenville attack. Logan Taylor dished out 43 assists, while Rosich landed a match-high three service aces. Logan Keothavy scooped up nine digs, ahead of eight by the libero Luke Densmore. Mark Autry was credited with four total blocks (two solo, two assists) defensively.

Deklan Wingo (11) and Colby Landry (10) led Tusculum offensively on the evening. Jabes de la Cruz came off the bench to record nine kills on a .353 clip. Morgan Makovec (7), Kevin Blankenship (2), and Jaden Bramhall (1) rounded out the scoring. Tristan Blake distributed 35 assists, while he, Wingo, Landry, and Makovec all recorded a pair of aces. Defensively, de la Cruz dug up nine attempts, followed by libero Taylor West with eight. Makovec and Bramhall led the net defense with four and three rejections, respectively.

North Greenville hit .298 as a team with 50 kills and 19 errors on 104 total attempts. Tusculum hit .198 with 40 kills, 19 errors, and 106 total attacks. The Crusaders led the match in assists (48-37) and digs (36-31), while the Pioneers tallied more service aces (9-8) and total blocks (8-7).

Tusculum makes a quick turnaround to play again Wednesday (Jan. 24) night. The rematch at Erskine is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.