Box Score by Cory Guinn
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College men's volleyball team extended its winning streak to four games with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19) league victory over the Crusaders of Belmont Abbey College on Friday night in Wilson Gymnasium.
Barton improved its season to record to 5-2 overall and now sits at 3-2 in Conference Carolinas play. The Crusaders fell to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the league following the loss.
The Bulldogs and Crusaders played to four ties early in the first set before BC took a two-point lead on back-to-back kills from freshmen Aleksa Brkovic and Nick Leary.
Belmont Abbey stayed within one point of the Barton lead until a kill from freshman Vasilis Mandilaris sparked a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 17-11. Brkovic recorded three consecutive kills during the run for BC.
BC earned the first set victory by hitting .457 as a team, following that performance with an even better .500 hitting percentage with just two attacking errors in the second set to take a 2-0 match lead.
Belmont Abbey opened the third set with a slim 3-1 lead and held on to their advantage early on until the two sides were locked in a 14-14 tie midway through the frame.
A Brkovic kill followed by a bad set from the Crusaders put BC ahead by two points as the match result was never in doubt following a 4-0 run to put the Royal Blue and White ahead 23-17. Barton closed out the match with the final two points of the set for the straight-set victory.
Barton hit .398 as a unit in the match, totaling 51 kills as Belmont Abbey struggled to hit just .150 as a team.
Mandilaris led all players with 16 kills and a .480 hitting percentage, while Brkovic followed close behind with 14 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Senior Pierre Tang-Taye totaled 10 kills and hit .389 as sophomore Charles Hyde finished with six kills and four blocks. Juniro Federico Pagliara collected 44 assists in the win, finishing with eight digs on the defensive end as freshmen Kekaulike Alameda registered a match-high 10 digs.
Barton hosts rival University of Mount Olive on Wednesday, February 10 at 7 p.m. in Wilson as the team will raise awareness for cancer research by wearing special jerseys in the match.
