Box Score LEBANON, Tenn. – The Barton men's volleyball team (1-2) made history by coming back from two sets down to defeat No. 15 Grand Canyon (3-3), 3-2, Friday afternoon at the Grow The Game Challenge at Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena on the campus of Cumberland University.
The Bulldogs, who picked up their first win of the season, prevailed over the Lopes by scores of 27-29, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23 and 15-13. Barton also beat its first nationally-ranked opponent in school history.
Barton was led by the tandem of junior right side hitter Angelos Mandilaris (Chalkida, GREECE) and senior outside hitter Vasilis Mandilaris (Chalkida, GREECE) with 19 and 17 kills, respectively. Junior setter Oscar Fiorentino (Bayamon, PUERTO RICO) dished out 43 assists for the Bulldogs, who scored the final three points in the fifth set to stun the Lopes.
Grand Canyon's Christian Janke (Carlsbad, Calif.) finished with a team-high 21 kills and 10 digs while Alex Shmelev (Barnaul, RUSSIA) totaled 14 kills in the setback. The Lopes, however, were hurt by 20 service errors.
All three of the Bulldogs' opponents this year have been NCAA Division I schools including the defending national champion Long Beach State 49ers last Friday.
On Saturday on day two of the Grow The Game Challenge, Barton takes on USC at 6:30 p.m., while Grand Canyon faces Lindenwood (Mo.) beginning at 9:00 p.m.
