Box score
MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. --- The Mount Olive College
men's volleyball team won the first two sets, and withstood a
furious rally by Lees-McRae College to clinch the 2011 Conference
Carolinas men's volleyball regular season championship on Saturday
afternoon.
Mount Olive (19-6, 7-0 CC) won the match by scores of 25-23,
25-17, 17-25, and 25-21 while posting six blocks and a .218 hitting
percentage. The Bobcats (15-9, 4-2 CC) recorded eight blocks and a
.252 hitting percentage, while the Trojans held a 32-23 edge in
digs.
Chad Mercado (Orlando, Fla.) posted a match-high 15 kills for
the Bobcats, while John Lucas (Cincinnati, Ohio) recorded 11 kills
and a team-best .476 hitting percentage to go along with a
contest-high four blocks. Randy Ramirez (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico)
chipped in 41 assists while Eduardo Gonzales (San Juan, Puerto
Rico) and Dylan Kembre (West Chester, Ohio) each tallied a
team-high five digs.
Angel Dache paced the Trojans with 15 kills, as Benedikt
Schirmers and Adam Miracle chipped in 12 and nine kills,
respectively. Jackson Mettechecchi added match-highs of 44 assists
and nine digs, while John Nunns equaled Lucas' contest-best total
of four blocks.
Mount Olive led wire-to-wire in the first set, claiming a 17-12
lead on a Bobcat miscue before Lees-McRae responded with a 7-3 run
to cut the margin to 20-19 on a block by Lucas. The Trojans then
closed out the set with a 5-4 spurt to claim the early advantage in
the match.
The Bobcats answered early in the second, battling back from a
2-0 deficit to take a 7-6 lead on back-to-back Trojan errors to
force a Mount Olive timeout. The Trojans responded with a 16-9 run,
claiming a 22-16 lead on a Dache kill before closing out the set on
a Dache service ace to claim a 2-0 advantage in the contest.
Lees-McRae responded in the third, opening the set with a 16-11
run that was capped by a kill by Chris Flood (Louisville, Ky.). The
Bobcats would hold on from there, claiming the set on a kill by
Matt Harpenau (Cincinnati, Ohio) to cut the match-margin to
2-1.
Mount Olive reclaimed the momentum early in the fourth set,
taking a 9-5 lead on a block by Miracle and Nunns. After the
Bobcats battled back to cut the lead to 13-12 following a pair of
Trojan errors, Mount Olive launched a 12-9 run to close out the set
and the match on a Mettechecchi kill to cap the 25-21 fourth-frame
win.
Lees-McRae returns to the court on Tuesday when the Bobcats
travel to Bristol, Tenn. to take on King College (Tenn.) to resume
their conference slate. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
- LMC -
