Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College junior Pierre Tang-Taye reached the 20-kill plateau for the third time in four matches, but it came in a four-set loss to defending Conference Carolinas champion Erskine Thursday night at Wilson Gym, 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 26-24.
The Flying Fleet ended a two-match losing skid in improving to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in league play, while Barton saw a two-match win streak snapped as it fell to 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the conference.
The contest was close throughout, with the two sides seldom taking a lead of more than two points. There were 48 ties and 14 lead changes in the four sets.
A rare exception came in the second set, when Barton broke a 5-5 tie with a four-point spurt, eventually going up by five points, the largest lead of the night. The Bulldogs still led by four at 18-14, but the Fleet closed out the set on an 11-2 run, helped by six attack errors from Barton.
Despite the bitter set loss, the Bulldogs bounced right back to claim set three after opening up a three-point lead from an 18-all tie. Kills by Chad Stanback Jr. accounted for two of the three points. Stanback finished the night with 13 kills.
In the close fourth set, Erskine opened up a three-point cushion from an 8-all tie, and the Fleet still led by three at 12-9 following a Roberto Perez kill. However, Barton moved back in front at 15-14 on an Erskine attack error, the first of four lead changes in the late stages of the frame.
The Bulldogs took a 22-20 advantage on a kill by Tang-Taye, who had eight in that set alone without an error. But Erskine's Mike Kawa produced a kill to give the Fleet a side out, and was part of two consecutive blocks that put EC back in front, 23-22.
A Barton attack error gave the Fleet two match points, but an attack error by Erskine and a block by Stanback and Tanner Medina put the Bulldogs back into a tie at 24-all. A Barton service error landed the Fleet on match point once more, and a block by Kawa and Mike Michelau ended the contest.
In addition to his three blocks in the match's last seven points, Kawa produced five others in the win. Michelau and Perez had 17 kills each to lead the Fleet, and Perez also hit .517.
As a team, Erskine had a .330 attack percentage in the match while Barton hit .229.
Freshman Charles Hyde collected a season-high seven kills for the Bulldogs. Defensively, Barton received five blocks from Medina and a match-high 13 digs from Mike McMahon.
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday when they visit rival University of Mount Olive for a 2 p.m. contest.
