Box Score by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – Sophomore Angelos Mandilaris tallied a season-high 19 kills to propel the Barton College men's volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-12, 23-25, 25-11, 25-21) victory on Friday night at home against the Queens University Royals.
Barton (6-6) hit .680 as a team in the third set on Friday, recording 15 kills and two errors on 19 attacks. Queens (3-9) battled through 16 ties and seven lead changes to take the second set against BC. The Royals rallied late in the fourth set as they looked to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
A. Mandilaris hit .441 in the match for the Bulldogs, recording just four attack errors on 34 chances to go along with three aces and six digs. Junior Aleksa Brkovic added 13 kills and four aces for Barton, while junior Vasilis Mandilaris totaled 12 kills, seven digs, and two aces for the Bulldogs. Redshirt junior Oscar Fiorentino notched 44 assists, five digs, and two aces for BC, while freshman libero Wilfredo Rivera recorded a match-high 13 digs for the Bulldogs.
Aleksander Perisic delivered a team-high eight kills for the Royals, while Tristan Santoyo added seven kills and four digs for Queens. Jake Dube tallied five kills, two aces, and five digs in the match. Jack Mitchner guided the Queens offense with 29 helpers, while Conner Nagaki notched a team-high six digs.
Barton recorded a season-high 12 kills in the match, compared to just four for the Royals and hit .379 as a team on the night. The 52 kills for BC also marked a season-high. The Bulldogs opened the match by making only two attack errors as they would cruise to a 25-12 victory to take a 1-0 lead.
The Royals played their best set of the night after falling behind in the match 1-0. Queens recorded 11 kills and hit .250 as a team in the second set, holding off a comeback attempt by the Bulldogs.
In the third set, it would be Barton that quickly gained back momentum as the Bulldogs put some early distance between themselves and Queens on the scoreboard. Queens tallied six kills in the set while Barton added 15 kills. The Royals would also have a tough time with side outs in the set as they went 8-of-24.
Queens wouldn't go down without a fight in the fourth set, rallying on several occasions to put the pressure on BC. Barton looked to be in a comfortable spot after going on a 3-0 run to up its lead to 18-13 and force the Royals to use a timeout. Queens tallied two points following the timeout to trim the deficit to 18-15. A kill from Brkovic would give BC a 22-19 lead only to see Queens storm back with a pair of points to force a Barton timeout.
The timeout would be a good call for the Bulldogs as they rallied to win each of the next three points to secure the 25-21 victory and dispatch the Royals with a 3-1 win in the match. The Bulldogs recorded 30 kills over the final two sets of play, while Queens registered just 15.
Both sides combined to commit 28 service errors on the night, while Queens had 12 reception errors. Barton held a slight 6-5 advantage in total team blocks as Brkovic and senior Charles Hyde each tallied one solo block apiece.
The Bulldogs will look to remain undefeated in league play as Barton hosts Belmont Abbey College in a Conference Carolinas matchup inside Wilson Gym on Saturday at 2 p.m.
