Men’s Volleyball outlasted by Queens

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Catawba College men's volleyball team performed well against its first-ever Division I opponent, winning the opening set in a 3-1 loss to Queens University of Charlotte on Thursday night.

TEAM STATS

- After topping Queens (6-3) in efficiency in the first stanza, Catawba (4-4) regressed to an .061 hitting percentage while the Royals posted a .286 mark

- Catawba bested the hosts in service accuracy by a .843-.798 margin, but Queens had a 9-7 advantage in the ace count

- The Royals commanded a large lead in the blocking category with 14.5 denials compared to the Catawba Indians' eight

- The squads alternated 26-24 victories in the first two sets before Queens outscored the visitors 50-32 across the final pair

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Eli Zdonek led the blue and white with 12 kills, eight digs and three service aces as well as four blocks, capping an exceptional week for the Greenville, S.C. product

- Wyatt Eastin made a career-high six blocks including one solo stop to go with three kills offensively

- Trevor Phillips also broke into double figures on offense at 10 kills and landed two aces, putting up seven digs and a solo block

- Luke O'Neill batted .500 with four kills on six attempts, adding a block assist and a dig

- Kristian Smith handed out 26 assists with six digs as he and Jacob Brown notched one ace and one block apiece

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- The Royals rolled out to a 6-2 edge before timely kills by Zdonek opened a window for Catawba, who trimmed the gap to 11-10

- A couple of Nathan Vaupel strikes temporarily gave Queens separation, but the Catawba Indians exited the media timeout and overtook the hosts using darts from Zdonek, Phillips and O'Neill

- Queens tied the score twice as Catawba continued to win each ensuing rally, resulting in the Royals' first timeout as they faced a 23-21 deficit

- Catawba reached set point to spur another break called by QUC, then Casey Maas and Vaupel leveled it at 24-all with back-to-back kills

- However, the Royals committed a pair of miscues on the following two rallies to give Catawba the initial frame

Second Set

- Chance Shampine connected on four kills in the early going, allowing Queens to have the upper hand but Catawba remained on the doorstep

- Phillips found an opening to strike and Brown aced the next serve, knotting the score ahead of another Shampine blast to make it a 15-14 stanza at the media break

- QUC extended its lead to 21-17 as the Catawba Indians struggled to find footing until the Royals got to set point

- Behind 24-21, Catawba roared back with kills by O'Neill and Zdonek as the pair teamed up for a block to level the score, but Queens tallied the last two points to even the match at 1-1

Third Set

- Zdonek and Brown supplied darts in a back-and-forth start before Shampine recorded his second and third kills of the set, making it 10-6

- Queens enjoyed four consecutive points as the streak ended with a service error and an Eastin-Zdonek stop halted the Royals' run

- Catawba suffered a second lengthy run by QUC that wrapped up at 19-8, but two Brown kills and two Royal gaffes shrunk the deficit to 19-12

- The hosts worked their advantage back to double digits and secured the go-ahead set victory with a 25-15 triumph

Fourth Set

- Woes by the Royals put them in a 5-1 hole to begin the fourth frame, but the hosts got even and started to pull away using a 12-1 run featuring three blocks including Sev Allton

- Zdonek and Phillips chalked up kills in an attempt to rally back but were met with a four-point slide

- Queens responded to an Eastin strike with one from Vaupel to reach match point while holding a 10-point edge

- After an off-target serve by QUC, Zdonek sent in back-to-back aces to keep Catawba alive; Carson Strawbridge collected a blast to clinch the match win for the Royals

UP NEXT

The Catawba Indians host two matches next week, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 4 against Mount Olive at 7 p.m.