GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team stayed perfect at home with its second sweep of Erskine this season.
The Pioneers (5-8) finished out the season sweep of the Flying Fleet (4-5) by scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-23.
Jacob Mullen led Erskine with seven kills as nine members of the Flying Fleet recorded at least one kill. Gino Briglio dished out 24 assists, while the lone service ace was credited to Colin Fahey. Mikey Widmyer finished with a team-best eight digs as Tyler Kuehl took part in a pair of blocks.
Deklan Wingo registered 14 kills, followed by Morgan Makovec (9), Joel Dubinsky (7), and Aiden Roper (4). Riley Wisniakowski distributed 32 assists, while Wingo (5) and Makovec (2) landed the aces for TU. Wingo added eight digs, just ahead of seven by Taylor West. Both Wingo and Caleb Hammann were credited with three total blocks.
Erskine hit .181 as a team with 28 kills and 13 errors on 83 total attempts. Tusculum hit .193 with 34 kills, 17 errors, and 88 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Flying Fleet in assists (34-25), service aces (7-1), Digs (35-30), and total blocks (4.5-3).
After Tusculum took the 4-3 lead in set one, the match was not tied again until the third set. The Pioneers hit .375 in the opening frame behind six kills by Wingo and a perfect 5-for-5 start by Makovec. However, TU began the contest with a triple block featuring Dubinsky, Wingo, and Hammann. Erskine kept Tusculum in reach until went on a 4-1 spurt to lead 16-12. The margin remained largely the same to earn the Pioneers the match lead.
TU led the second set from start to finish despite being outhit .105 to .000. The highlight was five aces by Wingo, including a span of four-straight. The Pioneers forced an early timeout by Erskine at 7-2 after winning four points in a row, all due to unforced errors. Wingo took over service after Dubinsky's kill at 16-9. After back-to-back aces, the Flying Fleet made a mass substitution, but Wingo added two more (all four reception errors were credited to a different player). Down 20-9, Erskine went on an 8-3 spurt. Tusculum's two remaining points were service errors by the visitors.
The third set was easily the most contested with 13 ties and the only two lead changes of the match. Once again, Erskine outhit Tusculum by a slim margin (.156 to .125). Neither team ever held more than a two-score advantage throughout the entire frame. The Flying Fleet gained their first lead of the contest at 16-15 as part of a three-point spurt on TU attack errors. Down 21-19, Tusculum battled back to retake the lead with consecutive kills by Wingo and an Erskine miscue. The visitors tied the set at 23-all but TU ended the night with a Wingo kill and a Makovec walk-off ace.
Tusculum continues its longest homestand of the season, hosting Bluefield in a rescheduled match on Tuesday (Feb. 18) at 6 p.m.
