Box Score by Kevin Buczek
MOUNT OLIVE, N.C.-Freshman outside hitter Zach McCalla led Barton College with five kills and five digs in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-21) loss to Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday morning in the final session of the Mount Olive College Men's Volleyball Festival.
The fledgling Barton program began its inaugural season at 0-3 overall in the MOC Festival. Barton will return to Kornegay Arena on Tuesday, January 24 for its Conference Carolinas opener against the defending league champion Trojans at 7 p.m.
Eastern Mennonite – an established program of the NCAA Division III Continental Volleyball Conference – departed for Virginia with a 1-2 record to start the season. Junior Chris Moise led the Royals with 11 kills. Junior Greg Knight added seven spikes and three block assists. Classmate John Berry recorded 21 assists.
Freshman outside hitter T.J. Daley recorded three kills, two block assists and one service ace to tie McCalla with 5.0 points for the Bulldogs. Freshman middle blocker Tanner Medina (3 kills, 2 block assists) and sophomore outside hitter Alx Draughan (4 kills) followed with four points apiece.
Eastern Mennonite scored the matches first four points and never trailed in the first set. The Royals built up a 14-3 cushion midway through the set before rolling to the 10-point win.
A Daley ace tied the middle set for the third and final time at 3-3 before EMU scored the next two points to regain its lead that would not be relinquished. Holding onto a slim 9-8 lead, the Royals rattled off the next five points to take control. Eastern Mennonite eventually scored the final three points to close out the eight-point win to take the commanding 2-0 set advantage.
The final frame was started off by a Medina kill to give Barton its only set lead of the match at 1-0. Just like the second set, the third saw a trio of early ties including the last at 4-up before Eastern Mennonite used a 8-2 run to double ahead at 12-6. The Bulldogs barked back by winning seven of the nine chances to close the gap to one at 14-13. EMU ended the rally with three straight points to stay in the lead 17-13 before eventually closing out the set and match by the same four-point margin.
Eastern Mennonite controlled play hitting .215 and dominating the box score including 8-2 blocking advantage, 25-19 digs surplus and 7-2 gain on service aces. Barton had its worst attacking performance hitting in the negative by .134. The close third set was the only stanza BC had more kills than hitting errors. All seven Bulldogs hit at zero percent or below.
