FORT VALLEY, Ga. – The King University turned in a solid offensive performance on Friday night at Fort Valley State University. King also received career efforts from four individuals as the Tornado came back to top the Wildcats 3-2, including a fifth set 19-17 victory without an attack error.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, Fort Valley State 2 (23-25, 25-22, 29-27, 17-25, 19-17)
LOCATION: HPE Arena; Fort Valley, Ga.
RECORDS: King 3-7; Fort Valley State 0-3
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- The Tornado offense got off to a hot start with the first four points coming off of kills, including two from Kellan Kennedy.
- King took a 5-2 lead on a Wildcat miscue, but Fort Valley State came back to even the score at seven.
- King scored three straight points to gain a 12-9 lead following a kill from Jackson Carroll.
- The Wildcats came back again, however, and later went on a run.
- A Sean Haberthy kill gave the Tornado a 14-13 lead, but Fort Valley State took the lead with back-to-back points.
- The Wildcats then scored four straight to force a King timeout as the Tornado trailed 19-15.
- In all, the Wildcats went on an 8-2 run to take a 21-16 advantage before King rallied.
- Consecutive kills from Kennedy and Carroll forced a Fort Valley State timeout with the Tornado trailing 22-19.
- King scored back-to-back points out of the break as a Justin Sawyer kill pulled King within 22-21.
- The Tornado pulled within one point two more times, but couldn't pull even as the Wildcats took the set 25-23.
Second Set
- An ace from Sawyer and kill from Carroll gave King an early 5-3 lead, but Fort Valley State scored four straight points to take a 7-5 advantage.
- The Wildcats then held the two-point advantage until the middle of the set when King went on a run.
- Four straight points, including an ace from Sawyer and kills from Carroll and Jack Sarnowski gave King a 14-13 lead.
- The Tornado then scored three straight points, as the run included a kill from Carroll and block from Sarnowski and Haberthy.
- King led 17-14 as the run was at 7-1 as Fort Valley State called for a timeout.
- The Wildcats scored three consecutive points out of the break to even the score before the teams began to trade points.
- Davis and Carroll then came up with back-to-back kills to force a Wildcat timeout with King leading 23-21.
- Following a Wildcat point out of the break, Carroll registered consecutive kills, giving King the 25-22 victory.
Third Set
- Fort Valley State held the advantage throughout the set, before King went on a 4-1 run to even the score at 16 on a block from Sarnowski and Aaron Milstead.
- The teams then traded points before three consecutive Wildcat points forced a King timeout with the Tornado trailing 22-19.
- King scored back-to-back points out of the break to pull within one, but the Wildcats came up with a kill to keep the lead.
- Following a King timeout, Milstead came up with a kill and Carroll served up an ace to even the score at 24 as the Wildcats called for a timeout.
- The teams traded points before King scored consecutive tallies, the second a kill from Davis to give King the 29-27 win.
Fourth Set
- Fort Valley State look to gain separation with a 5-0 run to take a 16-10 lead before Kennedy came up with a kill for the Tornado.
- Each time the Tornado looked to a get a run going, Fort Valley State had an answer, eventually taking the set 25-17.
Fifth Set
- The set was played within two points as King hit .591 in the frame, accounting for 13 kills without an error on 22 attempts.
- A 3-1 run gave Fort Valley State a 14-13 lead and forced King to call a timeout.
- Out of the break, Davis came up with a kill before the teams traded points again.
- King eventually scored back-to-back points on two kills from Kennedy to take a 17-16 lead.
- Kennedy again came up with a kill before a Wildcat attack error gave King the set 19-17 and the match 3-2.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- King hit .318 in the match, eclipsing the .300 plateau for the second straight match.
- Carroll paced the offense with 21 kills and a .280 attack percentage. He added six digs.
- Davis followed with another double-double, posting 19 kills and a team-high 14 digs. He hit .361 in the match.
- Kennedy was big in the middle with a .577 attack percentage on 17 kills. He made two errors on 26 attempts.
- Sarnowski handed out 64 assists to go along with seven digs.
FOR THE FOES
- Isaiah Fedd led Fort Valley State with 33 kills and an attack percentage of .545.
- Jamil Scott added 14 kills, eight digs and an attack percentage of .281.
- Jaxson Hicks hit .455 with 12 kills and five digs.
- Justin Yates handed out 64 assists to go along with eight digs and three blocks.
- Diego Cardona posted a match-high 16 digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Kennedy set a career-high with 17 kills, topping his previous best of 15.
- Carroll topped his career-best of 16 kills with 21 terminations.
- Davis set career-highs again with 19 kills and 14 digs. He also posted his fourth double-double, all coming in the last five matches.
- The 64 assists for Sarnowski set a career-high and rank second in school history.
UP NEXT
- King travels to Lincoln Memorial University on Tuesday. First serve from Harrogate, Tenn. is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
- Fort Valley State hosts the University of Mount Olive on Saturday evening.
