Men’s Volleyball upended by Mount Olive

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's volleyball team endured a highly-contested 3-0 defeat to Mount Olive on Tuesday night at Goodman Arena.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba (4-5) recorded its best hitting percentage in a loss at .274 while Mount Olive (4-2) committed just 10 errors in a .375 performance

- The Trojans turned a larger number of their sets into assists by a .463-.417 percentage margin, but Catawba totaled two more helpers (40-38)

- Mount Olive posted an .878 success rate on service with four aces compared to the Catawba Indians' .828 mark with two aces

- The blue and white trailed in both digs (30-28) and blocks (7-5) while suffering four blocking errors

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Trevor Phillips paced the offensive corps with 15 kills and an ace

- Eli Zdonek blasted 11 kills on a .296 hitting percentage and picked up an assist

- Luke O'Neill notched a season-high six strikes on nine swings with one dime and a team-best three blocks

- Jacob Brown dabbled in a few categories, recording five kills, one ace, six digs and one block assist

- Kristian Smith tallied 35 assists and logged kills on both attempts, while sharing the squad's top digging mark with Phillips at seven stops

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- A very tight first set saw the deficit never rise above two points in the initial 20 rallies as O'Neill and UMO's Kory Grant supplied three kills apiece early on

- After trailing for most of the stanza, Catawba tied the score at 13-13 and 15-15 on strikes from Phillips

- Grant continued to hurl bullets at the Catawba defense with efficiency, getting his fifth of the frame to take a 21-17 edge

- A pair of blocks and a Blake Hosic kill secured the opener for UMO, 25-20

Second Set

- Another contested start was tilted in Catawba's favor when, knotted 5-5, Smith hammered back-to-back kills

- UMO responded with four straight points, drawing a timeout from the hosts who faced a 9-7 deficit

- Brown landed a couple of kills in a quick effort to close the gap, but a second burst from the Trojans saw the score reach 16-11

- Two Phillips blasts and one apiece by Zdonek and O'Neill cut the deficit to one before the visitors ran the gap up to six at 23-17

- Four consecutive Catawba Indian points sliced the margin to 23-21, but kills by Hosic and Tate Sandvig bookended a Zdonek strike to slam the door with a 25-22 triumph

Third Set

- Phillips and Sandvig went at one another with three kills apiece in the first 15 rallies

- Zdonek fired a kill, O'Neill made a big solo stop, and Brown and Phillips each aced to secure a 12-9 advantage and force UMO to call a quick timeout

- Catawba saw its lead trickle away but consecutive blocks featuring Wyatt Eastin thrust the blue and white back ahead at 16-14

- The visitors successfully turned the score around, stretching the gap to five on a Holden Maryott ace

- On match point at 24-19, Phillips' kill and an O'Neill-Zdonek block kept the blood pumping but the Trojans snared the deciding point to record its second sweep of 2025

UP NEXT

Next on the docket for Catawba is a home match against Emmanuel on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.