Men’s Volleyball takes second set at North Greenville

TIGERVILLE, S.C. — The Catawba College men's volleyball team battled hard in the middle sets as it fell to North Greenville, 3-1, at Hayes Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

TEAM STATS

- North Greenville (1-1) batted .347 compared to Catawba's (2-3) mark of .121, but the visitors led 107-95 in attacks

- The Trailblazers had the upper hand in the blocking game with a 10-4 margin and edged Catawba in the service ace count 5-4

- Miscues haunted the Catawba Indians who committed 51 total errors, while NGU tallied 35 with just four in the fourth set

- The hosts maintained a 35-30 lead in the digs category as all 10 players that saw action added at least one

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Eli Zdonek ripped a season-high 12 kills on a .241 hitting percentage, adding three digs

- Trevor Phillips paced Catawba offensively with 15 kills highlighted by six darts in the second stanza

- Cam Reeder had a strong defensive showing with a career-high eight digs and two block assists while supplying seven kills

- Max Adkisson dug out nine NGU attacks with a .944 reception percentage at the libero position

- Headlining the blue and white at the net was Luke O'Neill with three block assists as he was one of four Catawba Indians with an ace alongside Phillips, Jacob Brown, and Kristian Smith

- Smith dished out 36 assists, his third consecutive outing with 35 or more assists, in addition to three digs and a pair of stops

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- NGU hurried to a 10-3 advantage in the opening set, benefitting from six Catawba mistakes while Reeder and Phillips picked up kills to produce a couple of side-outs

- A Smith ace and Brown's first dart of the day helped squeeze the gap to 11-7 before the Trailblazers used five straight points to run the deficit up to nine

- Late kills from Brown and Zdonek rivaled blasts by Thomas Roper and Logan Keothavy as NGU rolled to a 25-14 victory in the first frame

Second Set

- After surrendering the first two points, Catawba shot into the driver's seat at 10-7 as Phillips notched two kills and Zdonek dropped in an ace

- The offensive efforts of NGU's Roper and Jacob Koch helped close the window as the pair teamed up to collect the go-ahead block for a 16-15 edge

- A stop by Reeder and O'Neill evened the score again as Phillips slammed a couple of kills and O'Neill aced to take a three-point lead at 21-18

- Brown and Phillips struck to reach set point, eventually getting the deciding point four rallies later in a 25-23 final

Third Set

- Catawba's momentum carried into the following stanza, starting out with a 4-2 lead created by a Zdonek kill and three Trailblazer woes

- NGU failed to take a lead but knocked on the door, tying the Catawba Indians four separate times as each side struggled in the hitting department

- Following the 15-15 point, Michael de la Cruz and Roper contributed to a Trailblazer dash into the lead that forced a Catawba timeout at 22-20

- An O'Neill-Smith denial and Reeder's first ball kill on set point put the visitors one point from knotting it, but de la Cruz added the killshot for a 25-23 decision

Fourth Set

- The fourth stanza was back-and-forth in the early going following NGU's 4-1 start that kept Catawba away

- A four-point run that featured a de la Cruz kill and block with Keothavy doubled the blue and white's score in 12-6 fashion

- Attempts to close the gap were quelled by NGU as Zdonek inflicted back-to-back kills after the Trailblazers attained a 10-point buffer, but Keothavy responded with consecutive strikes of his own to wrap up a 25-14 set and 3-1 match

UP NEXT

Catawba is back in action at Goodman Arena on Thursday, Jan. 23 to battle Benedict at 7 p.m.