Box Score by Kevin Buczek
MOUNT OLIVE, N.C.-Junior Zach McCalla tallied a team-high 11 kills and freshman Federico Pagliara posted 27 assists in his first collegiate match for visiting Barton College but the Bulldogs were unable to stop a hot-hitting University of Mount Olive squad in losing a 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-20) Conference Carolinas men's volleyball match Wednesday evening in Kornegay Arena.
The Trojans (1-0 overall, 1-0 conf.), who are the preseason favorites to win the conference, hit a sizzling .406 and got 14 kills from reigning First Team All-Conference honoree Angel Dache. The Bulldogs (0-1, 0-1) attacked at a respectable .133 but still lost to UMO for a sixth consecutive time.
Barton had a total of four newcomers making their Royal Blue and White debut. Pagliara added three block assists to his 27 assists after joining the team less than a week ago from Italy. Freshman Chad Stanback Jr. smacked seven kills and classmate Jonathan Novoa-Miralles added three spikes in just two sets. Junior transfer Michael McMahon registered four digs at libero.
Ladislav Lelkes recorded a game-high four solo blocks for the Bulldogs and joined fellow junior middle blocker Tanner Medina with three kills apiece.
Barton started its season strong nearly upsetting the Trojans in the first set. The Bulldogs held late leads of 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22 but three consecutive service errors on their rotation tied the period up for the 10th, 11th and 12th times. A Victor Fraga Leal kill put Mount Olive in front before a hitting error by Barton secured the opening win for the hosts.
UMO had a .556 hitting percentage in the narrow two-point win but five kills by Stanback kept Barton in the lead for most of the frame.
The Bulldogs only trailed by one point, 11-10, in the second set after a kill by McCalla but the Trojans won seven of the next eight points to pull out to an 18-11 advantage. Mount Olive then maintained a comfortable edge in taking the middle period by eight.
Barton continued to fight in the third but Dache started to heat up and pounded half of his 14 kills in the final frame to complete the sweep. A couple blocks by the Bulldogs pulled the visitors to within four a couple times. A solo block by Novoa-Miralles inched the score to 22-18 and another block by Lelkes and Pagliara closed the gap to 23-19 but both times Dache answered with a spike on the next play. Barton's 12th service error set up match-point and Mount Olive's Lewis Einarson ended the match with his sixth kill.
Fraga Leal finished with nine kills for UMO while Josh Donahue led the Trojans defensive efforts with a match-high 10 digs. Tyler Yanez set up Mount Olive's offense with 36 assists.
Barton returns to action in a tri-match at Belmont Abbey College on Tuesday, Jan. 21. The Bulldogs will first play the hosts Crusaders in a league clash at 5 p.m., before playing a non-conference contest against Emmanuel College at 7 p.m.
