Box Score by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Barton College junior outside hitter Zach McCalla broke his own school-record with 25 kills in a narrow 3-2 (25-17, 25-23, 19-25, 19-25, 15-13) Conference Carolinas men's volleyball home loss to King University on Friday night in Wilson Gymnasium.
A freshman Chad Stanback Jr. kill gave the Bulldogs a late 13-12 lead in the fifth set but the Tornado won the final three points to squeak out the victory.
King (5-3 overall, 2-1 conf.) finished with a season-high 14.5 team blocks including a block by junior Mason Casner and freshman Kiel Bell on match-point.
Barton (2-7, 1-5) has played in three consecutive league matches that have gone the distance going 1-2. The Bulldogs will try and get back in the win column when Barton hosts Lees-McRae College in a conference clash on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Junior libero Mike McMahon, who entered the week leading NCAA Division I-II in digs per set, matched his season-best mark with 22 digs. Freshman setter Federico Pagliara added a match-high 43 assists. McCalla and Pagliara just missed double-doubles with nine digs apiece.
King pulled away to the eight-point win in the opening set by stuffing away half of its swings. The Tornado, who had a .333 hitting percentage in the frame with 12 kills and only four errors on 24 attempts, were tied with the Bulldogs midway through the set at 14-14 before going on a 6-0 run to take control. Bell had dad a match-high three aces and served up two consecutive aces in that key run.
The Tornado never trailed in the second set despite eight ties. Barton kept the set close by hitting .207 but sophomore Eddie Moushikhian lifted the visitors to the 2-nil lead with six of his 12 kills in the game including smashes on KU's final two points.
The Bulldogs fought back with gritty performances in both the third and fourth sets. Barton tallied 30 of its 53 digs in those two periods including six successful passes by McMahon in each stanza. With the score tied at 17-17 in the third, BC went on to win the next four points to start a closing 8-2 surge. The Bulldogs led for most of the fourth before junior Tanner Medina clinched another six-point win with a kill on set point.
King jumped out to a 7-3 edge in the race to 15 points in the fifth but Barton quickly knotted the score at 10-10 with its own 7-3 comeback. McCalla gave Barton its first lead at 11-10 with a kill but freshman Nick Serowski followed with his own kill to level the score. McCalla responded with another spike but his service error evened the score again at 12-12. Stanback regained the lead for the Bulldogs one last time with a kill but a second straight service error knotted the score for the sixth time in the set. McCalla's attempt at a 26th kill missed its mark to set up match-point for King before Casner and Bell teamed up for the clinching block to the back left corner.
Stanback, junior Ladislav Lelkes and junior Brennan O'Connor all had seven kills for the Royal Blue and White. Lelkes had a team-high six blocks (2 solo, 4 assists) while Medina and Stanback each contributed on five Barton blocks.
Serowski and Moushikhian each registered a dozen kills for the Tornado. Casner chipped in 10 kills and logged nine blocks (1 solo, 8 assists). Senior setter Jeff Bosslet totaled 38 assists. Kiel had a team-high 14 digs and senior libero Jeremy Funk added 12 digs.
