Box Score by Doug Page
BRISTOL, TENN. – Barton College saw the University of Mount Olive knot the match 1-1 with a victory in the second set but responded by winning the each of the next two to secure a 3-1 victory against the Trojans on Friday night in the semifinals of the Conference Carolinas Men's Volleyball Championship in Bristol, Tenn.
Barton (21-7) recorded a 27-25, 24-26, 25-20, 25-19 victory against the Trojans to advance to the league championship game for the third straight season. The Bulldogs will face King University on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. for an automatic bid to the NCAA Div. I-II Men's Volleyball Tournament. Mount Olive (16-13) hit just .214 and .038 as a team over the final two sets, while the Bulldogs hit over .400 as a team through the same two sets.
Junior Vasilis Mandilaris guided the Bulldogs with a match-high 15 kills in the match to go along with a .407 attack percentage. Sophomore Angelos Mandilaris also notched 15 kills for BC, while junior Aleksa Brkovic tallied 14 kills for Barton. Junior Nick Leary recorded nine kills for the Bulldogs, while junior Justice Lord added seven kills and two solo blocks. Redshirt sophomore Oscar Fiorentino tallied a match-high 53 assists for Barton, while sophomore Tim Wiese tallied a career-high 13 digs.
Bret Rutledge recorded a double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs for the Trojans, while Robert Poole added 12 kills to go along with four aces and four digs. Luke Visgitis recorded eight kills to go along with five block assists, while Jeff Yasalonis tallied a team-high 33 assists to go along with six digs and five kills.
The Trojans controlled the momentum early in the first set as Visgitis and Yasalonis tallied consecutive kills to up the UMO lead to 3-1. Mount Olive increased its lead to 4-2 before BC rallied for three straight points to take a 5-4 edge. A service error by the Bulldogs sparked a 6-0 rally for the Trojans as Mount Olive took a 13-8 lead in the set. The Bulldogs pulled within two points of the Trojans following a trio of errors by UMO.
A triple block from A. Mandilaris, Lord, and V. Mandilaris trimmed the Mount Olive lead to 15-14 in the set. The Trojans would later up their lead to 19-15 following kills from Yasalonis and Brad Monaghan. Trailing 25-24 and just a point away from losing the set, Barton tallied two quick points to take a 26-25 lead and draw a timeout from the Trojans. A ball handling error by the Trojans would give BC the 27-25 win in the set and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Barton leaped out quickly to a 5-0 lead in the second set following a kill from A. Mandilaris. An ace from Brkovic increased the lead to 7-1 before UMO answered with a pair of points to cut the deficit to 7-3. Holding a 12-8 lead over the Trojans, Barton saw UMO record four consecutive points to knot the score 12-12. With the set tied 15-15, Barton went on a 3-0 run to take an 18-15 advantage. Mount Olive answered with a 3-0 run of its own to knot the score once again. The Trojans took a 24-23 lead late in the set to force a timeout by the Bulldogs. BC evened the score out of the timeout but would see UMO even the match 1-1 with a 26-24 victory off a kill from Yasalonis.
The Bulldogs took an early 6-1 lead in the third set and later a 10-4 advantage over the Trojans as Mount Olive called a timeout. UMO trimmed the gap to 17-14 following a bad set by the Bulldogs but saw Barton counter with a 4-0 run to increase its lead to 21-14. Trailing 24-18 in the set, UMO rallied for a pair of points to cut the deficit to four. A kill by V. Mandilaris ended the set as BC recorded a 25-20 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Brkovic and V. Mandilaris helped to give Barton an 8-5 lead in the third set. Lord would give BC a 14-10 lead following a kill only to see UMO use a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to 14-13. The momentum of the set would shift following a kill by Visgitis. Barton would gain momentum instead of UMO as the Bulldogs used a 3-0 run to take an 18-14 lead and lead to a timeout by the Trojans. BC kept things rolling, rattling off four more points to increase its edge in the set to 22-14. A kill by Leary put the Bulldogs within a point of clinching the set and the match.
The Trojans would put that celebration on a temporary hold as Poole delivered consecutive aces to trim the gap to 24-19. Following a timeout by Barton head coach Jeff Lennox, Brkovic sealed the victory for the Bulldogs with a kill to give BC a 25-19 win to go along with a 3-1 victory in the match.
The Bulldogs and Tornado will square off at 6:30 p.m. inside the Student Center Complex. BC and King split their season series with both teams winning on their home court. Stay tuned to www.bartonbulldogs.com for updated links to live stats and video.
