Box Score by Benny Benton
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Barton College men's volleyball team rallied from two sets down to force a fifth set tiebreaker against Sacred Heart University Friday night, but the host Pioneers controlled the final frame to take a 3-2 victory at the Pitt Center, 25-10, 25-15, 24-26, 22-25, 15-9.
Sacred Heart (9-8) played the decisive set without an attack error, producing eight kills while hitting .421. Barton (9-13), which had hit .379 in the fourth set after a very slow start to the night, slipped back to an .050 percentage in the last frame.
The match featured two of the nation's top 10 players in kills per set, and both Barton's Pierre Tang-Taye and Sacred Heart's Enzo Mackenzie lived up to their numbers. Both men had 19 kills to lead their respective sides. In doing so, Tang-Taye extended his streak of consecutive matches in double-figures to 14.
Senior Brennan O'Connor added 10 kills for the Bulldogs and Chad Stanback Jr. chipped in nine. Libero Mike McMahon, the national leader in digs per set, exceeded his average in collecting a match-high 18 digs. Freshman Ben Kasun, making just his second collegiate start at setter, produced his first career double-double with 37 assists and 12 digs. Senior Tanner Medina, who leads Conference Carolinas in blocks, added to his total with a match-high seven block assists.
Trent Thompson contributed 11 kills for Sacred Heart, while Eduardo Zardo pushed up 49 assists. Mackenzie, who also ranks among the top 10 in the country in service aces, delivered five against the Bulldogs.
Three of Mackenzie's aces came during a 10-0 run in set one as the Pioneers pulled away to an early 14-3 lead. Austin Arcala and Raymond Satagaj each added two of their nine kills during the spurt. Barton had an equal number of errors and kills in the opening frame (.000 percentage) while SHU hit .320 to take the set easily.
Barton continued to struggle in the second set, hitting just slightly better (.036). Leading 5-4, Sacred Heart surged in front with a 10-3 run, half of those points coming on attack errors by the Bulldogs. Thompson and Arcala each had four kills in the set to pace the SHU offense.
Tang-Taye, who had managed just two kills through the first two frames, finally broke through with a huge third set for Barton, delivering eight kills in the frame alone while committing just one error (.583).
Trailing 15-13 midway through the set, Barton went on a 5-0 run that included two kills by O'Connor and one by Tang-Taye. After the Pioneers cut the deficit back to two at 20-18, Barton used three straight attack errors by SHU to take the biggest lead of the set, 23-18.
However, the Bulldogs committed three attack errors in the next five points, and Sacred Heart added kills from Thompson and Mackenzie to tie the match at 23-all. A kill by Tang-Taye put Barton on set point, but a service error sent the set to a tiebreaker at 24-all. The Pioneers returned the favor with a service error of their own, putting Barton on set point once again, and this time Tang-Taye finished things off with a kill.
In a fourth set that featured nine ties and five lead changes, Barton took the final lead with a 6-0 run that turned a 14-13 Sacred Heart advantage into a five-point BC cushion. The spurt included three blocks by the Bulldogs, with Stanback and freshman Charles Hyde involved in two of them.
The Pioneers cut the deficit to three points on four occasions, and finally chipped Barton's lead down to just two at 24-22 on a Connor Bohl service ace, but Tang-Taye again ended the set with a kill, sending the Bulldogs to a fifth set for the fifth time in their last six matches.
Barton took an early 2-1 lead in the decisive set following kills by Kasun and Tang-Taye, but Sacred Heart scored the next four points to take a 5-2 advantage. Travis Vonholt had two kills and a block assist during the spurt.
The Bulldogs climbed back within a point on two occasions, the second one at 6-5 after an SHU service error, but Christopher Delucie had a kill and BC committed consecutive attack errors to put the Pioneers up 9-5. From there, Barton got no closer than three points.
Barton will return to action on Saturday night against another NCAA Division I opponent, Saint Francis University. The Red Flash is 3-13 on the year, but has won three of its last five matches, including a straight-set win over Sacred Heart in its most recent match. Eight of SFU's losses have come to nationally-ranked programs. Match time is 7 p.m. from Loretto, Pa.
