Men’s Volleyball dazzles in sweep of Lees-McRae

SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College men's volleyball team notched its first home victory in program history on Friday night, blanking Lees-McRae in a 3-0 sweep.

TEAM STATS

- The Catawba Indians (2-2) drilled 39 kills on a season-best .384 hitting percentage, overshadowing the 25 darts and .132 clip by Lees-McRae (0-1)

- 52.8 percent of Catawba's sets led to kills, overshadowing the visitors' .304 setting percentage

- The blue and white landed six service aces while holding the Bobcats ace-less, but committed slightly more errors by a 16-14 margin

- Lees-McRae was held to a lone block, compared to the Catawba Indians' 5.5

- Catawba achieved perfection on 41 receptions while the Bobcats posted an .898 reception percentage

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Trevor Phillips topped the offense for the fourth straight match with 14 kills on a blistering .619 hitting percentage, adding two aces and three digs

- Cam Reeder chalked up seven kills with six digs, one assist, and one block

- Catawba got a four-block night from Eli Zdonek as the Greenville, S.C. product tallied six kills, three aces, and five digs

- Jacob Brown slammed six kills on nine swings with three digs on the defensive end

- Kristian Smith handed out 35 assists, digging out four attacks while tacking on a kill and an ace

- Wyatt Eastin recorded his third consecutive match with three blocks and collected five kills

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- Eastin and Zdonek started the match off with a block to key a four-point run including a kill from each of them

- The Bobcats narrowed the gap to three, but the blue and white came roaring back and two kills from Phillips plus a Zdonek ace that forced a Lees-McRae timeout at 10-3

- Zdonek fired a second ace immediately after the break as Catawba logged six more kills to extend the lead to 19-7

- Brown got a kill and Smith aced to reach set point before an errant LMC serve capped the opening frame at 25-12

Second Set

- A neck-and-neck start featured two kills from Reeder and three from LMC's Ben Fincham

- Catawba began to construct a small edge using Phillips kills as well as aces by both him and Zdonek to lead 15-11 at the media timeout

- Bobcat miscues and a pair of darts from Brown stretched the visitors' deficit to 21-14, spurring a timeout

- Errors continued to plague the Bobcats as an Eastin kill put Catawba on the doorstep, then an off-target LMC attack closed the stanza at 25-18

Third Set

- Sebastian Heer and Lincoln Scofield tallied two kills apiece for the Bobcats in the early going during another shootout, neither team's lead exceeding three points

- Phillips notched his fourth blast of the set at the 13-11 mark as Smith snuck in a kill and LMC struck back with a pair of points, narrowing the margin to one

- Nelson Castellanos landed a kill and leapt for a solo block to even the score at 16-all, but Brown and Reeder delivered darts and a Reeder-Eastin stop lifted the Catawba Indians ahead 19-16

- Despite getting a trio of kills from Phillips down the stretch, Catawba fell behind and the Bobcats reached set point at 24-23

- Following a blue and white timeout, a three-man block between Brown, Zdonek, and John Cordray put Catawba one point away as Phillips finished the job with an ace

UP NEXT

After the three-day weekend, Catawba travels to North Greenville on Tuesday, Jan. 21 for a 7 p.m. tilt against the Trailblazers.