Box Score by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College men's volleyball team swept past Emmanuel College with a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-18, 25-16) in Wilson on Saturday in Conference Carolinas action.
The Bulldogs (2-5, 2-0) recorded their second straight victory in conference action as BC hit .449 as a team, while Emmanuel (2-5, 1-2) committed 17 attack errors in the match and hit just .219 as a time.
Sophomore Angelos Mandilaris guided the BC offense with a match-high 14 kills on the afternoon. He also hit .458 and was responsible for 14.5 points. Junior Vasilis Mandilaris notched 10 kills and five digs for Barton, while junior Aleksa Brkovic tallied seven kills for the Bulldogs. Redshirt junior Oscar Fiorentino tallied 31 assists in the match, while freshman Wilfredo Rivera recorded a team-high six digs.
The Lions were paced by Aleksa Lakic's nine kills in the match, while Manuel Melenciano recorded eight kills. Alejandro Robles added eight kills for Emmanuel, while Caleb Bonaventure tallied 27 assists and eight digs for the Lions.
Both sides started the match by trading points until Barton used a 3-0 rally in the set to take an 11-8 lead. Emmanuel responded in a big way, using a 4-0 run of its own to take a 12-11 advantage over the Bulldogs. Following a service error by the Lions that knotted the score 18-18, Emmanuel went on a 3-0 run to take a 21-18 lead and momentum away from Barton. Ackeem West gave Emmanuel a 22-19 lead in the set, only to see the Bulldogs take back the momentum and go on a 6-0 rally to win the opening set, 25-22.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set after consecutive attack errors by the Lions. Junior Justice Lord would deliver back-to-back aces later in the set to give Barton a 13-8 lead until a service error ended the run. Emmanuel tallied back-to-back points to trim the deficit to 16-13 after a kill from Lakic and a bad set by Rivera. The Bulldogs countered offensively with a 5-0 rally to take a 21-13 lead and control of the set. The Lions rallied late in the set to cut the BC lead to 24-18 before a service error by Melenciano gave Barton the 25-18 victory in the set.
Leading 2-0 in the match, Barton raced out to a 7-3 advantage in the third set. A. Mandilaris gave BC a 15-8 lead and capped a 3-0 rally for the Bulldogs midway through the set. The Lions wouldn't be able to put together any runs in the set to try and close the gap on the scoreboard as Barton recorded 14 kills without an attack error in the set. A kill from Fiorentino followed by an ace from V. Mandilaris upped the BC lead to 22-14. Emmanuel received consecutive points from Robles and Melenciano to cut the gap to 22-16 before the Bulldogs went on a 3-0 run to take the set 25-16 and secure the 3-0 sweep.
Barton tallied just nine attack errors in the match and hit .520 in the second set and .730 in the third set. The Bulldogs also tallied five blocks in the match as Lord led the way with two solo blocks.
The Bulldogs hit the road for a pair of conference matches against North Greenville University (Feb. 2) and Limestone College (Feb. 3). Barton returns home to host Coker College in a non-conference match on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.
