PREVIEW: Men’s Volleyball returns from spring break, battles Erskine on Tuesday

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's volleyball team plays the penultimate home match of its regular season on Tuesday, welcoming Erskine to Goodman Arena for a 7 p.m. tilt.

Three Straight Wins

- The Catawba Indians hope to pick up where they left off, winning three consecutive matches at the end of February and start of March

- The blue and white earned a 3-1 payback victory over North Greenville, then posted back-to-back sweeps against Emmanuel and Barton two weeks ago

- Since the start of the streak, the squad is hitting .299 with 12.80 assists and 2.50 blocks per set

- Catawba's last loss occurred on Feb. 22 against fourth-ranked Hawai'i, an historic match that drew nearly 800 fans to Goodman Arena

Zdonek Named Defensive POTW

- Eli Zdonek was tabbed the Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Defensive Player of the Week last Tuesday, racking up 12 digs and seven blocks in Catawba's two-sweep week

- The award marked the program's second IVA honor after Trevor Phillips' Offensive Player of the Week nod back on Jan. 20

First Bout

- The initial meeting between Catawba and Erskine resulted in a gritty sweep for the visitors in their first trip to Due West

- Despite posting a shutout, Catawba out-scored the Flying Fleet by a narrow 77-69 margin with the second set going to extra rallies at 27-25

- Trevor Phillips landed 14 kills on a .344 hitting percentage, while Zdonek hammered 10 strikes as the pair combined for nine digs

- Kristian Smith tallied 37 assists with three service aces, four digs and a couple of block assists

- Wyatt Eastin leapt for three blocks at the net including one solo stop

Scouting the Flying Fleet

- Erskine takes its 8-10 record to Salisbury on Tuesday afternoon, recently snapping a four-game skid with a sweep of Lees-McRae

- The Flying Fleet have posted an impressive 5-2 record on the road with the two losses coming in the season opener at Barry – a first-year program – and against IVA foe Tusculum on Feb. 15

- Pablo Zamar leads Erskine with 145 kills but did not see action in the last contest; instead, the Flying Fleet turned to Logyn Wells who ripped 11 strikes with two aces

- Gino Briglio ranks sixth in the country with 10.35 assists per set while totaling team-best totals of 538 assists and 21 aces

Follow Along

The match will be streamed on FloCollege ($) with live stats on CatawbaAthletics.com.