BANNER ELK, N.C. --- Junior Brady Markle recorded his sixth consecutive 20-kill match, including three 25 kill efforts, but the Lees-McRae men's volleyball team dropped a 25-20, 22-25, 20-25, 23-25 decision to North Greenville in Conference Carolinas play Wednesday evening at Williams Gymnasium in Banner Elk, N.C.
The Crusaders (10-18, 4-13 CC) used a pair of 17-kill efforts from Luuga Vailu'u and Matthew McManaway while Dustin King led all players with 15 digs. The Bobcats (3-17, 2-14) must win their final two matches and have North Greenville lose to Limestone Saturday in order to claim the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament.
Sophomore Mark Shayka (Hamilton, Va.) stuffed a Connor Rhine attack attempt to give LMC a one-point advantage, 13-12.
The Bobcats carried the momentum to a 4-0 run, stretching the lead to four, 17-13.
McManaway and Alexander Schinzing chipped in with a kill each while NGU cut the deficit to one, 18-17.
Schinzing led both teams with 44 assists while LMC's Drew Blecher (York, Pa.) impressed with 32 kills of his own.
The Bobcats staved off the Crusaders with a 7-3 run to end the set while holding NGU to a match-low .103 clip.
Valiu'u contributed four kills to help the Crusaders grab a 15-11 lead in the second.
Trailing by four, LMC ripped off a 4-0 run, thanks to three consecutive NGU attack errors, tying the set at 17.
Both squad would exchange blows, but NGU's 3-0 run broke a 22-all tie, sending the contest into the third tied at one.
Consecutive attack errors in the third allowed the Crusaders to grab a 16-12 lead.
NGU hit a match-high .536 in the set.
Despite a trio of kills from Markle (York, Pa.), the Crusaders kept the lead at arm's length to claim the third.
Markle is dominating the conference with 5.36 kills per set and 6.0 points per set. He leads both categories by more than 1.0.
NGU sprinted out to an early 10-5 lead, but strong defensive play from LMC allowed the Bobcats to cut the deficit to two on three occasions.
The Crusaders took advantage of a 3-0 run to stretch the lead to six, 16-10.
Sophomore John Sobel (Holbrook, N.Y.) caught fire and mashed out three of his eight kills, cutting the lead to two, 16-14. Sobel led the team with eight digs.
LMC hung around thanks to a 10-7 run, using a pair of Markle kills and one from Keenan Freitas (Mountain View, Hawaii), 24-23.
NGU claimed the final point to win the match.
The Bobcats travel to Erskine Saturday, April 11 at 2 p.m. in Due West, S.C.
- LMC -
