Box Score Misenheimer, N.C. – The King University men's volleyball team took the court against Conference Carolinas first place opponent, Pfeiffer University. In a five set thriller, King fell short behind three in double figure kills, led by Nick Serowski with 13 kills.
King (12-9, 8-5 CC) came out slow allowing Pfeiffer to take an early 5-2 but a Jeff Sprayberry kill brought the Tornado within one at 5-4. A Mason Casner service ace tied the set up at 8-8 but Pfeiffer (14-3, 13-1 CC) would not let King take a lead in the game and scored three straight points to open their lead to 17-13, forcing a King timeout. The Tornado got within four off a Stephen Brown kill but a King service error gave Pfeiffer set one, 25-20.
Set two did not go King's way either trailing 8-6 quickly into the set. The Tornado got back within two at 10-8 off a Pfeiffer service error but Pfeiffer would come right back and tally three straight points, opening their lead to 14-9 forcing head coach Ryan Booher to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, King tallied three points to bring the set score to 14-12. Pfeiffer added two points followed by three King points capped off by a Sprayberry kill to get King within one. Two points from Pfeiffer would put King down 20-17 but back-to-back attack errors from the Falcons brought the Tornado deficit back to one. Pfeiffer recorded three straight points and eventually went on to win set two 25-22.
King was finally victorious in set three after scoring the first point of the set and kills from Casner and Serowski gave King a 7-6 advantage. Adrian Besson and two Falcons attack errors gave King a three point lead at 10-7 before Pfieffer tallied a point. The Tornado opened their lead to three at 19-16 on a Sean Luhmann service ace forcing a Falcons timeout. Pfeiffer came back to post four straight points and took the lead from King at 21-20. King scored four points to Pfeiffer's one took the lead at 23-22. The Falcons added two in a row to take a 24-23 lead but the Tornado came right back with two of their own to earn a 25-24 lead. Pfeiffer would score off a King attack error but a Besson kill and Falcons ball handling error gave King the win in set three, 27-25 and bring the match score to Pfeiffer 2, King 1.
The fourth set was not looking good for King out of the gates as Pfeiffer jumped out to a 5-1 lead and then an 11-5 advantage. The Tornado posted four straight points, two Besson kills and a Brown kill, all three off passes from Nick Drooker bringing the score to 12-10. King tied the game up at 17 and took the lead off a Serowski kill. Serowski ended the fourth set for the Tornado off a kill to force a fifth and final set. King tallied the final three points of the set after trailing 24-23 to win set four 26-24.
In the fifth and final set of the night, King jumped out to a 3-1 lead off a Serowski kill and two Pfeiffer attack errors. The Falcons immediately tied the set up and King posted three points in a row to take a 6-3 lead. Pfeiffer scored four straight points to take a 9-8 advantage in the final set. Serowski and Sprayberry added two points to give King a 12-10 lead but Pfeiffer registered the final five points of the evening to take set five 15-12 and the match 3-2.
King recorded an attack percentage of .242 while Pfeiffer posted an attack percentage of .327. Serowski led the Tornado with 13 kills. Sprayberry and Brown both tallied 10 kills in the contest. Brown posted a team-high eight digs.
The Tornado will return to action on Thursday, March 26 when they will host Erskine College. First serve is set for 7:00 pm in the Student Center.
