Box Score WILSON, N.C. – Following a big road win on Friday night, the King University men's volleyball team couldn't come back for the second straight day, falling at Barton College on Saturday afternoon. The Tornado forced a fifth set, but the Bulldogs took the frame 15-9, to win the match 3-2 and create a tie atop the Conference Carolinas standings.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Barton 3, King 2 (25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-9)
LOCTION: Wilson Gym; Wilson, N.C.
RECORDS: King 25-3, 14-2 Conference Carolinas; Barton 18-5, 15-2 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Kiel Bell recorded the first point of the contest with a kill, and Nick Drooker followed with three straight aces, giving King a 4-0 lead early.
- Barton later scored four straight points to gain a 13-11 advantage.
- The Bulldogs held the advantage for the rest of the set, and scored seven of the final nine points, taking the frame 25-20.
- The Tornado erased a 14-9 deficit in the second set with a 7-0 run started by a Jeff Sprayberry kill.
- Sprayberry and Jon Wheaton ended the spurt with back-to-back kills, giving King a 16-14 lead and forcing a Barton timeout.
- King then scored nine of the final 11 points, including six straight to even the match with the 25-17 second set victory.
- Adrian Besson and Drooker teamed up for consecutive blocks on the spurt and Eddie Moushikhian gave King the victory with a kill.
- The Tornado jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the third set following a Besson solo block.
- However, Barton came back and evened the score at 14 before using a 3-0 run to take a 19-17 advantage.
- From there, Barton held their lead and took the set 25-21 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
- Trailing by two in the fourth set, King rolled off four straight points, capped by consecutive Drooker aces, giving King a 12-10 lead.
- Sprayberry stretched the lead to 18-14 with a kill and later gave King the 25-23 victory with another kill.
- Barton turned a 6-6 tie into an 11-6 lead in the fifth set with a 5-0 run.
- The Tornado couldn't come back as Barton took the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.
- Sprayberry led four Tornado in double figures with 17 kills to go along with eight digs.
- Bell added 11 kills and nine digs.
- Moushikhian and Wheaton chipped in with 10 kills apiece.
- Drooker handed out 48 assists, added eight digs and seven aces.
- Nuckolls led the defense with 16 digs.
FOR THE FOES
- Barton posted 18.5 blocks in the contest, led by Justice Lord's eight block assists and one solo stuff.
- Federico Pagliara added seven block assists and handed out 50 assists.
- Aleksa Brkovic led the Bulldogs with 16 kills and eight digs.
- Angelos Mandilaris added 11 kills to go along with eight digs and Vasilis Mandilaris chipped in with 10 kills.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The loss end's King's 15-match winning streak, the longest in school history. The last Tornado loss came on February 17 against the University of Mount Olive.
- Nuckolls matched his career-high of 16 digs, a mark he reached three times last season.
- Drooker's seven aces sets a career-high and ranks second in Tornado history.
UP NEXT
- King hosts Limestone College on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in the Student Center Complex.
- Barton hosts Mount Olive on April 11.
