Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – For the second time this season, Barton College and King University needed a fifth-set tiebreaker to decide their Conference Carolinas matchup.
Earlier this season in Bristol, Tenn., the Tornado stormed back to win the final six points and rally for the victory. On Friday in Wilson Gymnasium, the Bulldogs returned the favor, fighting back from a three-point deficit to start the fifth set and claim the 3-2 win, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 16-14.
The victory was BC's fifth in a row in league play, helping the Bulldogs improve to 8-6 in conference and 10-14 overall. The loss ended a three-match winning streak for King, which slipped to 11-8 overall and 7-4 in the league.
Junior Pierre Tang-Taye led all players with 19 kills for the Bulldogs and senior Brennan O'Connor added a career-high 14 kills. Freshman Charles Hyde chipped in 12 kills and matched a Barton school record for blocks with 10.
Sophomore Federico Pagliara pushed up 49 assists before leaving the contest late in the match with an injury, and senior Mike McMahon collected a match-high 14 digs.
Nick Serowski paced the Tornado with 17 kills. Eddie Moushikhian added 11 kills and eight digs, and Nick Drooker produced 49 assists and three service aces.
King jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker set on a kill by Serowski, a block by Stephen Brown and Matthew Lychock, and a Drooker ace.
Barton came right back to tie the set at 3-all on a kill by Chad Stanback Jr., an attack error by Serowski and a triple block by Tang-Taye, Hyde and Pagliara.
The Tornado enjoyed a 7-5 cushion when the Bulldogs used kills by O'Connor, Hyde and Stanback to take their first lead of the set, 8-7. A kill by King's Moushikhian tied the match at 8-all, but Barton received a kill and an ace from Stanback to move in front by two.
King went on a 3-1 run – all of its points provided by kills from Serowski – to take a 12-11 lead. Consecutive kills by Tang-Taye put BC back in front, but Serowski's fourth straight point for his team tied the match at 13-all.
A kill by Hyde put Barton on match point, but a service error handed King the ball back and knotted the score at 14-all. Hyde, a resident of Melbourne, Australia, responded by putting Barton on match point again at 15-14 with his fourth kill of the set, and this time a Tornado attack error gave the Royal Blue and White a big win over the league's fourth-place team.
Barton hit a school-record .360 in the contest, led by a .556 attack percentage from Hyde and a .462 effort from O'Connor.
The Bulldogs produced a .400 attack mark in winning the first frame. Barton let an early 7-3 lead escape, but a King service error at 14-all followed by consecutive kills from Stanback helped the Bulldogs pull away.
Even though Barton hit even better in the second set, .476, five kills each by Moushikhian and Adrian Besson helped King take the set. The Tornado produced a .387 attack in the frame, by far its best effort of the night. The Bulldogs trimmed a five-point deficit midway through the set down to a single point at 24-23, but a Serowski kill finished off the frame for King.
Tied at 14-all in the third set, Barton used three King errors and consecutive kills by O'Connor to make up most of a 6-0 run that put the Bulldogs in command of the frame. BC hit .417 in the set, while King had more errors (10) than kills (9) in producing a negative .037 mark. Hyde had five kills in the set for Barton and O'Connor added four.
However, Barton suffered its only bad hitting set of the match in the fourth frame (.077) and King took advantage to tie the match back at 2-all. The Tornado used consecutive kills from Serowski, a Barton attack error and a Drooker ace to take a 4-0 lead in the set, and the Bulldogs trailed the rest of the way. Barton did cut the deficit to as little as one point on seven different occasions – the last one at 22-21 on a King error – but the Tornado closed the set on a 3-0 run to force the tiebreaker.
Barton hit .478 in the decisive set, as Hyde and Stanback combined for seven kills without an error.
The Bulldogs will attempt to earn their sixth straight conference win on Saturday when they host Lees-McRae College in a 2 p.m. match.
