Box Score by Benny Benton
DUE WEST, S.C. – No. 5 seed Barton College forced No. 1 seed Erskine College to tiebreakers in consecutive sets, but the upstart Bulldogs could not finish off the Flying Fleet and fell in straight sets to the regular-season champions in the semifinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament Saturday night at Belk Arena, 25-17, 31-29, 26-24.
The loss ended the best season in Barton's three-year history as a program. Winners of just three matches in their first two seasons combined, the Bulldogs finished this year 12-17, reached the league tourney for the first time and won their opening-round game at Limestone College before bowing out to Erskine (20-6).
Junior all-conference pick Zach McCalla had 13 kills to lead Barton, while freshman Jonathan Novoa-Miralles added 11. The league's Defensive Player of the Year and the nation's leader in digs, Mike McMahon, collected 17 to pace the Bulldogs defensively.
Erskine's Michael Michelau recorded a match-high 18 kills, with Omar Melendez and Roberto Perez Vargas adding nine kills each for the winners.
The Flying Fleet, which has now gone 16-1 since mid-February, never trailed in the opening set, surging to a quick 7-2 advantage and never leading by less than three points the rest of the way. Melendez had five of his nine kills for Erskine in the opening set while hitting .533. As a team, the Fleet hit .393, while Barton struggled to an attack percentage of just .074.
Erskine again jumped out a to an early cushion at 6-3 to start set two, but this time the Bulldogs fought back, using two kills each from Chad Stanback Jr. and McCalla as part of a rally that reached 9-all on a rare kill by the libero McMahon.
Tied again at 20-all, Barton took advantage of three straight Erskine errors to grab its biggest lead of the night, 23-20. After a timeout, the Fleet won the next two points to pull within one, but a block by Stanback and Ladislav Lelkes put the Bulldogs on set point, 24-22.
However, Erskine's top attacker, Michelau, produced a kill to give Erskine a side out trailing by just one, and a Barton attack error on the next possession tied the match at 24-all.
Barton took leads at 25-24, 26-25 and 27-26 on kills by Novoa-Miralles and McCalla and a block by McCalla and Tanner Medina, respectively, but each time Erskine answered with a point of its own.
Erskine took the advantage at 28-27 and 29-28, but kills by Novoa-Miralles and McCalla pulled the Bulldogs even on both occasions. Novoa-Miralles and McCalla each had six kills in the set.
The Fleet pulled in front once more at 30-29 on a kill by Mike Kawa, and this time a solo block by Corey Marks on a Novoa-Miralles attack gave Erskine the set, 31-29.
The close play continued throughout the third set, which featured 16 ties and five lead changes. McCalla, Novoa-Miralles and Lelkes each had three kills in the set for the Bulldogs, while Michelau had four to pace the Fleet.
Barton took an 18-17 lead on a McCalla kill before Erskine used two kills and a service ace by Perez Vargas as part of a 4-1 run to go up 21-19. The margin was still two following a kill by Michelau at 23-21, but a kill by McCalla and an ace by Novoa-Miralles tied the set back at 23-all.
Another Michelau kill put Erskine on match point, but Lelkes answered with a kill to tie the set again at 24-all. However, a Perez Vargas kill put the Fleet in front again, 25-24, and this time Andres Talavera delivered an ace to finish off the match in favor of Erskine.
The Fleet will host No. 3 seed University of Mount Olive on Wednesday in the title match, with the winner earning the league's inaugural bid into the NCAA Tournament.
