BLUEFIELD, Va. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team reached double-digit wins for the first time in program history after rounding out the season sweep of Bluefield on Tuesday (Mar. 11). TU has now won six-straight contests.
The Pioneers (10-8) wrangled the Rams (10-6) with scores of 25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19.
Kylie Pietrzak (18) and Mason Lloyd (13) led Bluefield in kills as both hit over .300 in the loss. Benedict Somes dished out 37 assists, while Lloyd added three service aces. Libero Colby Mutter added 11 digs with General Smith aiding in four blocks.
Deklan Wingo tallied 11 kills on a .550 hitting percentage to head up the Tusculum attack. Aiden Roper and Donovan Nye recorded eight kills apiece with the latter hitting .400. Joel Dubinsky (7), Morgan Makovec (6), Adam Svendsen (6), Caleb Hammann (3), Tyler Morrison (1), Taylor West (1), and Kevin Blankenship (1) rounded out the scoring. Riley Wisniakowski (25) and Blankenship (15) combined for 40 assists, while Wingo landed a trio of aces from behind the line. Blankenship nearly had a double-double with nine digs, just ahead of seven by Patrick Gresham. Wingo, Dubinsky, and Hammann were each credited with a pair of blocks.
Bluefield hit .287 as a team with 47 kills and 16 errors on 108 total attempts. Tusculum hit .330 with 52 kills, 17 errors, and 106 total attacks. The Pioneers led the match in assists (47-44), service aces (8-5), and digs (42-32), while the Rams recorded more total blocks (6-4).
Tusculum and Bluefield came out firing as the Pioneers hit .667 to the Rams' .450. Down 4-3, TU went on a 4-0 run sparked by back-to-back aces by Tyle Keeble. Wingo had a 4-0 run on his own with two kills and two aces to up the advantage to 13-7. The teams traded blows as the Pioneer lead expanded to eight on a Dubinsky and Hammann rejection (23-15). Roper added a point, but the clincher was a service error by BU.
TU won five of the first six scores of the second set, highlighted by consecutive kills by Dubinsky and a Svendsen ace. Bluefield went on a 4-0 run to bring the score back within striking distance at 11-10. The advantage stayed within three until a 3-0 spurt by the Pioneers, aided by unforced errors by the Rams, made the score 21-18. BU rattled off three-straight to tie the set but kills by Roper and Morrison were supplemented by home errors. Both teams were still effective on their swings as TU hit .423 to Bluefield's .310.
Bluefield outhit Tusculum by a narrow margin (.250-.219) and used seven attack errors by the Pioneers to force a fourth set. Neither side had more than a two-point advantage until a 5-0 run by the Rams pushed the lead to 12-8. BU went on a 6-1 spurt to extend the edge to 22-15. TU made a late push, but the lead was too great.
Tusculum returned the favor in the fourth set, outhitting Bluefield .259 to .118, with the Rams recorded seven attack errors. Up 6-5, TU went on a 7-1 spurt with Keeble and Kai Williams behind the service line. The advantage stayed the same until a late push by the Rams, but a Makovec strike sent the Pioneers home happy.
Tusculum makes a quick turnaround to host Belmont Abbey on Wednesday, March 12. First serve from Pioneer Arena is scheduled for 5 p.m.
