BANNER ELK, N.C. – The King University men's volleyball team opened Conference Carolinas play with a road victory at Lees-McRae College on Wednesday night. Following a setback in the second set, the Tornado took the final two sets for the 3-1 victory.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, Lees-McRae 1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19)
LOCATION: Williams Gymnasium; Banner Elk, N.C.
RECORDS: King 5-1, 1-0 Conference Carolinas; Lees-McRae 2-3, 0-1 Conference Carolinas

HOW IT HAPPENED

• King broke an 8-8 tie with back-to-back points and later rolled off four straight points capped by a Sean Luhmann kill to give King a 16-10 advantage.
• The Tornado extended their lead to as many as six points before the Bobcats tried to comeback.
• Lees-McRae came back to get within 24-21, but Nick Drooker gave King the 25-21 victory with his first kill of the match.
• The Bobcats held the upper hand for the majority of the second set, but King came back late to take a 21-20 lead.
• However, Lees-McRae answered, scoring five of the next six points, including the final three points to take the set 25-22.
• The Tornado broke a tie at 12-12 with a kill from Adrian Besson and ace by Jeff Sprayberry to gain the advantage in the third set.
• King forced a Lees-McRae timeout with three straight points started by a pair of Eddie Moushikhian kills that gave King a 20-15 lead.
• The Tornado later scored the final three points of the set, taking the frame 25-17 for the 2-1 lead.
• King kept the offense going in the fourth set, opening up a 6-3 advantage in the early going.
• Later in the set, King scored three straight points, highlighted by a block from Jon Wheaton and Sprayberry, forcing a Lees-McRae timeout as King led 16-10.
• Besson served up an ace, giving King their largest lead of the set at 23-15.
• Luhman then ended the match with a pair of kills, giving King the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
• Luhmann led King with 12 kills against one error on 19 attempts for a .579 attack percentage.
• Wheaton also hit over .500 at .538 with eight kills on 13 attempts and one error.
• Sprayberry added nine kills and hit .304.
• Drooker handed out 39 assists and added nine digs.
• Jimmy Nuckolls also added nine digs to lead the defense.

FOR THE FOES

• John Sobel led Less-McRae with 17 kills while Wes Rogman followed with 11 kills.
• Hector Serviat chipped in with 10 kills and hit .471.
• Reto Pfund handed out 44 assists and Keenan Freitas recorded 12 digs.

UP NEXT

• King returns to action on Tuesday when they host Pfeiffer University at 7:00 p.m. in the Student Center Complex.
• Lees-McRae travels to Lincoln Memorial University on Friday night.