BANNER ELK, N.C. --- The Tusculum University men's volleyball team won both ends of the home-and-home series against Lees-McRae after sweeping the Bobcats on Tuesday (Mar. 19).
The Pioneers (6-16) caged the Bobcats (1-20) by scores of 25-17, 25-18, 25-19.
Lees-McRae was led by six kills from M.J. Doyle and five by Austin Beaird. Merritt Crowe dished out 18 assists, while three Bobcats landed the service aces: Doyle, Vincent Pradarelli, and Sebastian Heer. Beaird led the match with eight digs as Heer had a hand in two blocks.
Deklan Wingo headed up the Tusculum offense with nine kills, just ahead of Colby Landry (7), Jaden Bramhall (6), and Adam Svendsen (6). Also contributing to the kill total were Morgan Makovec (4), Tristan Blake (3), Cameron Reeder (1), Joel Dubinsky (1), Noa Svendsen (1), Donovan Nye (1), and Shane O'Neal (1). Blake distributed 25 assists, while Wingo tallied three of the Pioneer aces. Wingo and Landry tied for the team-high four digs. Bramhall assisted in three blocks at the net.
Lees-McRae hit -.029 as a team with 20 kills and 22 attack errors on 70 total attempts. Tusculum hit .350 with 40 kills, 12 errors, and 80 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Bobcats in assists (37-20), service aces (6-3), digs (24-22), and total blocks (7-3).
Lees-McRae may have taken the first point of the night, but a mid-set rally pushed Tusculum to an opening set victory. Wingo and Svendsen tallied three kills apiece as Wingo landed all of his aces in the one frame. TU also hit a match-best .391, while LMC had its only positive clip of the night (.048). The Pioneers hit a groove after reaching double digits. Back-to-back aces by Wingo expanded the edge to four (13-9). The Bobcats could not reel the visitors back in, clinched by Wingo's last ace.
LMC also won the first point of the second set and led by as many as four (11-7) before TU went on a scoring spurt. Wingo landed four kills, while Landry went 3-for-4 on his attempts. As a team, Tusculum hit .333 with three blocks. TU went on an 8-1 run (15-12) to swing the momentum with Blake and Wingo serving. Lees-McRae strung together consecutive points, but the final three went the way of the Pioneers.
Once again, TU hit .333 in the frame, spurred by Bramhall's 3-for-3 go. LMC had its worst outing of the night in set three, hitting a paltry -.080. Holding the narrowest of leads (7-6), Tusculum scored three-straight, but Lees-McRae responded in kind. With O'Neal and Bramhall behind the service line, the Pioneers made their big surge, jumping out to a 20-12 advantage. The Bobcats made a late push, but to no avail.
Tusculum begins the end of their lengthy road trip by traveling to Virginia to take on No. 17 George Mason in a two-match agreement. First serve on Friday (Mar. 22) is scheduled for 7 p.m.
