BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Barton men's volleyball team (16-13) fell in three sets to Belmont Abbey (16-8), 3-0, Friday evening in the semifinals of the 2025 Conference Carolinas Championship at the Student Center Complex on the campus of King University.
The Crusaders, seeded second in the tournament, will take on top-seeded Mount Olive (20-3) in the championship on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Barton was the third seed in the championship.
Belmont Abbey, who defeated Barton for the third time this year, was led by Caden Day (Gainesville, Fla.) with a match-high 14 kills in addition to seven digs while Joseph Morris (Bethesda, Md.) added 36 assists as the Crusaders won their sixth straight contest.
Barton senior outside hitter
Jake Adams (Clermont, Fla.) finished with 10 kills and senior setter
Seth Deppe (Mukwonago, Wis.) totaled 30 assists and five digs despite the loss.
The Bulldogs, however, were hurt by 10 service errors in the losing effort. Barton did increase its win total on the season for the third year: zero (2022) to five (2023) to 12 (2024) to 16 (2025) under third year-mentor
J.T. Deppe.
