BRISTOL, Tenn. – For the third time in seven days, the King University men's volleyball team swept rival Lees-McRae College, this time in the Conference Carolinas Men's Volleyball Championship first round. The fifth seeded Tornado took the 3-0 win behind their best offensive output of the season to defeat the eighth-seeded Bobcats 3-0.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: No. 5 King 3, No. 8 Lees-McRae 0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-18)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 11-12; Lees-McRae 2-19
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- King used a 4-1 run early to gain separation as Joshua Kim bookended the run with kills.
- Lees-McRae came back and evened the score at 15, and again at 16 and 17 before the Tornado pulled away again.
- Kim posted a kill and a service ace on a 3-0 Tornado spurt that gave King a 20-17 advantage.
- Another 3-0 run gave King a 24-20 lead before a Douglas Florencio kill gave King the set 25-22.
Second Set
- King opened up a 12-7 lead following another ace from Kim as the Bobcats called for a timeout.
- Out of the break, Lees-McRae scored five straight points before a Diego Marcano kill.
- King the followed with a 5-0 spurt as JT Deppe posted a pair of kills, giving King an 18-13 lead.
- The Bobcats pulled within 19-18, but Kim came up with consecutive kills to start a 5-0 spurt.
- Following an Aaron Milstead kill and block from Milstead and Deppe, Kim ended the run with another kill.
- The Tornado then took the 25-19 win on a Bobcat miscue.
Third Set
- Florencio, Kim and Marcano registered kills on a 3-0 King run that gave the Tornado separation with a 9-5 lead.
- Marcano added two kills and Kim accounted for one on a 4-0 run that extended the Tornado lead to 13-6.
- King used a 4-0 run late to put the set out of reach as the Tornado took the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Kim led the Tornado with 16 kills with an attack percentage of .433.
- Marcano followed with 15 kills and an attack percentage of .444. He added nine digs.
- Jackson Carroll accounted for 10 kills and a .467 attack percentage.
- Deppe handed out 46 assists and added four digs.
- Noah Melendez accounted for eight digs.
FOR THE FOES
- M.J. Doyle led the Bobcats with 11 kills and six digs.
- Ethan Gardner and Michael Marsans followed with seven kills apiece.
- Riley Chapman handed out 32 assists and added six digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Tornado hit. 404 in the match, their best attack percentage of the season.
- The last time King hit better than .400 in a match was on February 2, 2019 when they hit .405 against Emmanuel College.
- The 53 kills for King set a school record for kills in a three set match. It is also the third most kills for the Tornado in a match this season.
- Deppe set the school record for assists in a three set match with 46.
UP NEXT
- King advances to take on fourth-seed Barton College on Tuesday night. First serve from Wilson, N.C. is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
