Box Score by Doug Page
FRANKLIN SPRINGS, GA. – Paced by a match-high 14 kills from junior Aleksa Brkovic and sophomore Angelos Mandilaris, the Barton College Bulldogs men's volleyball team tallied their second straight 3-0 sweep to improve their record in Conference Carolinas action to 11-0. The Bulldogs defeated Emmanuel College 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 at the Shaw Athletic Center.
Barton (14-6, 11-0) hit .423 as a team in the match and tallied 16 kills in the opening set against the Lions. The Bulldogs also delivered 10 aces in the match and were paced by three from A. Mandilaris. Emmanuel (8-12, 4-7) saved some of its best volleyball for the Bulldogs on Saturday as the Lions hit .308 as a team and recorded just 10 attack errors in the match.
Brkovic finished with a .632 hitting percentage in the match for Barton to go along with two aces and two assists. A. Mandilaris added a solo block to go along with his 14 kills and three aces for the Bulldogs, while junior Justice Lord added five kills on seven attempts. Redshirt sophomore Oscar Fiorentino tallied a match-high 27 assists to go along with a match-high six digs. Sophomore Tim Wiese added six digs and one assist for Barton.
Don Thompson recorded a team-high 10 kills for the Lions while adding three digs. Ackeem West tallied nine kills on 11 attempts, while Demitrius Maloney notched 26 assists and five digs for Emmanuel.
The Bulldogs used a 3-0 run in the first set to take a 7-4 lead after the Lions rallied to knot the set following a kill by Thompson. A Manuel Melenciano ace pulled Emmanuel to within a point of BC before the Bulldogs went on a 4-0 run to open a 12-8 advantage. Thompson pulled the Lions to within 15-12 in the set before BC rallied for three straight points to take a commanding 18-12 edge. Brkovic tallied three consecutive points for the Bulldogs to put Barton up 21-16 later in the set. Junior Nick Leary would give BC a 1-0 lead in the match as his ace secured the first set for the Bulldogs.
Emmanuel held several early leads in the second set as Thompson and Alejandro Zayas teamed up to give the Lions a 5-3 advantage. The Lions would later lead 7-5 after a kill by Melenciano but see the Bulldogs counter with a 3-0 run to take an 8-7 lead. Two points later, BC started a 4-0 rally to take a 12-8 edge over the Lions after consecutive aces by A. Mandilaris. BC would increase its lead to 16-11 only to see the Lions counter with a 3-0 run that trimmed the deficit to just two points.
The run that would put a stamp on the set for BC came on the heels of a kill from Brkovic as Barton rattled off five straight points to take a 21-14 lead. The Bulldogs then used a 3-0 run to pull within a point of taking a 2-0 lead in the match. Following a kill by Thompson that brought the Lions to within eight points of BC, a service error would give the Bulldogs a 25-16 victory in the set.
Barton raced out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and would later gain a 9-3 advantage before Emmanuel responded with a 3-0 rally to cut the deficit to 9-6. Lord gave BC a 14-8 lead after an ace but would see Emmanuel use a 3-0 run to pull within three points. Later in the set, Barton upped its lead to 21-14 and looked to be in complete control until Emmanuel stormed back to cut the gap to 22-19. The Lions cut the BC lead to 23-20 in the set before sophomore Noah Harmon tallied a kill followed by an ace to secure the 25-20 win and a 3-0 sweep of the match for BC.
The Bulldogs will take a break from league play as BC heads to Hartsville, S.C. for its second and final meeting of the season with Coker College at 7 p.m. Barton returns home for the first time since Feb. 24 as the Bulldogs open a three-game homestand against North Greenville on Mar. 23 at 7 p.m.
