BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Lees-McRae College men's volleyball team battled but ultimately fell in three sets (25-22, 25-21, 25-19) at King University in its Conference Carolinas opener Friday night.
1st Set – After giving up the first point of the match on a block to the Bobcats, King promptly rattled off a 9-1 run to build a substantial lead. Lees-McRae, however, would claw back into it and trailed by just one point at 22-21 after a Tornado attack error. King would not be denied though as it scored three of the next four points to edge out the Bobcats, 25-22.
2nd Set – Much like they did in the first set, the Bobcats fell behind early but kept at it and made it close towards the tail end of the set in the second. Trailing by as many as six points at 16-10, the Bobcats used a 6-1 run to make the score 17-16. King's offense found a bit of a groove after the Lees-McRae rally as it racked up five kills on its next eight points to finish off the second frame, 25-21.
3rd Set – In what proved to be the final set of the match, the Bobcats had more kills than the Tornado (14 to 13) and scored more points (16.0 to 14.0). Even with these factors working in Lees-McRae's favor, the Tornado used a mix of Bobcat errors and an efficient offensive attack (.344) to finish off the match, 25-19.
Stat Standouts – The bulk of Lees-McRae's offense came from a pair of players. Drew Sims scored 14.5 points thanks to 11 kills, one aces and three block assists, while Michael Marsans added 10 kills and added a solo block and a block assist.
Next Up – Lees-McRae will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Belmont Abbey College in its home opener. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. from Williams Gymnasium.
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