Men’s Volleyball celebrates senior four in IVA clash with Tusculum

SALISBURY, N.C. — The Catawba College men's volleyball team hosted its inaugural Senior Night on Friday, battling Intercollegiate Volleyball Association rival Tusculum to four sets in a 3-1 setback at Goodman Arena.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba (12-10, 0-1 IVA) finished with a consistent .280 hitting percentage while Tusculum (14-11, 2-2 IVA) hit .373

- The Pioneers notched six aces to Catawba's two and led the service percentage category .866-.823

- Tusculum logged a 46-38 advantage in digs and out-blocked the hosts 10-5.5, featuring a 6-0 difference in solo stops

- Both teams were effective against serves, breaking the .500 barrier in side-out percentage in all four sets

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Trevor Phillips poured in 21 kills with a team-best .419 hitting percentage while logging 33 receptions with no errors

- John Cordray was similarly efficient, batting .409 with 11 strikes in the middle in addition to his eight digs and two blocks on defense

- Eli Zdonek also racked up eight digs, killing 13 rallies on 36 swings

- Nate Seeger got the start at setter, registering a season-high 14 assists before Kristian Smith collected 32 dimes in relief

- Luke O'Neill stuffed the Pioneers at the net three times with four kills on the offensive end

- Max Adkisson led the Catawba defense with 10 digs, marking the rookie's seventh double-figure performance

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

- Seeger took the Pioneers by surprise with the Catawba Indians' first kill, but TU struck back with a 5-1 run

- Phillips and Zdonek scattered darts to keep the gap contained to a few points, squeezing the deficit to 11-9

- Another 5-1 kick from the visitors later in the stanza that included aces from Joel Dubinsky and Ty Keeble

- O'Neill paused the skid with a kill at 22-16 before the Pioneers closed out the set in 25-17 fashion

Second Set

- The frame began in a dead heat until a smash from Deklan Wingo brought TU ahead 10-7, spurring a Catawba timeout

- The blue and white continued to fall behind, but a 6-0 charge powered by three Zdonek kills tied the score at 18-all

- Kills by Cordray and Phillips followed by a Smith ace pulled Catawba into a 23-20 lead

- TU fell one point shy of re-tying the set at 24-24, and instead watched Phillips land a kill to secure a 25-23 triumph for the hosts

Third Set

- Tusculum shot out of a cannon with an early 7-3 edge opened by a pair of kills and one ace by Wingo

- Streaky scoring from both sides kept the margin from drastically widening, giving Catawba the chance to cut the deficit to two before the media timeout

- Three straight Wingo darts restored a firm Pioneer lead at 18-12, remaining at six later on at 22-16

- Wingo, the national leader in kills, struck twice more to finish off a 25-19 frame favoring the guests

Fourth Set

- Cordray found paydirt to slide Catawba in front twice early on, but TU rolled out a 5-0 run after being tied 5-5

- The blue and white gradually chipped away, pulling within one when back-to-back Pioneer miscues sliced the gap to 17-16

- Pairs of strikes from Zdonek and Phillips leveled the score at 20-20 as TU delivered a loud rebuttal, scoring four consecutive points to reach the doorstep

- On match point, Phillips tallied two kills before he teamed up with O'Neill and Cordray on a block

- After the Pioneers' first timeout of the set, Wingo added the final touch to seal the 3-1 victory

UP NEXT

The IVA foes square off again next Friday, Apr. 11 for a 6 p.m. start at Tusculum's Pioneer Arena.