BRISTOL, Tenn. – Playing their first match in the Student Center Complex in two weeks, the King University men's volleyball team gave the fans a show on Wednesday night. The Tornado dropped the first two sets to Belmont Abbey College, but came storming back behind a career night from
Kellan Kennedy to take the 3-2 come-from-behind win.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, Belmont Abbey 2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-13)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 6-9, 5-2 Conference Carolinas; Belmont Abbey 10-7, 3-3 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- The opening set was tight as it was played within a three-point spread and went to extra points.
- Belmont Abbey quickly took a 3-1 lead, but King came back to take a 6-5 lead following a block from Sean Haberthy and Jack Sarnowski.
- The Crusaders took leads of 10-7 and 11-8 before King scored three straight points to even the score at 11.
- Sarnowski served up an ace and Kennedy and Joshua Kim teamed up for a block to even the tally.
- King held the advantage in the middle of the set as the team traded points until Belmont Abbey went on a 5-2 run to take a 23-22 lead.
- King battled back, evening the score at 23 and 24, but the Crusaders scored the final two points, taking the set 26-24.
Second Set
- The second set was much like the first with Belmont Abbey holding a slight advantage throughout.
- A Kennedy kill for King evened the score at 17 and the Tornado score the next point to take the advantage.
- King again led 19-18, but the Crusaders came back with three straight points to take a 21-19 lead.
- Following a Jackson Carroll kill, Belmont Abbey scored four of the final five points to take the set 25-21.
Third Set
- King tried to flip the script in the third set grabbing the lead in the early going.
- However, Belmont Abbey came back to take a 7-5 lead and led 9-6 when a Haberthy kill got the Tornado offense going.
- Haberthy followed that with an ace before a pair of Kennedy kills highlighted the 5-0 King run that vaulted the Tornado to an 11-9 lead.
- With the score even at 15, King used a 4-0 spurt to regain control of the set.
- A kill from Carroll started the spurt before a block from Kim and Haberthy put the Tornado ahead 19-15.
- King later scored the final two points of the set on consecutive kills from Carroll to take the set 25-20.
Fourth Set
- The Tornado jumped out to a 5-1 lead behind kills from Kennedy and Kim.
- Belmont Abbey came back to get within 12-9, but King responded with four straight points.
- Kennedy started the run with a kill and added a block with JT Deppe before Sarnowski served up an ace as King took a 16-9 lead.
- King continued to extend their lead before a Deppe kill gave King the 25-18 victory.
Fifth Set
- Kim started the final set with back-to-back kills before a kill from Carroll and a block from Deppe gave King a 6-2 lead and forced a Belmont Abbey timeout.
- The Crusaders then scored five of the next six points to pull within 8-7 as the teams traded points for the remainder of the set.
- King led 14-13 as a service error gave the Tornado the 15-13 win to take the match 3-2.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Kennedy led the King offense with 15 kills and a .522 attack percentage. He also added four blocks.
- Kim followed with 13 kills, eight digs and three blocks.
- Carroll chipped in with 12 kills and five digs while Deppe contributed 10 kills, nine digs and three blocks.
- Sarnowski handed out 43 assists while Noah Melendez added seven digs.
FOR THE FOES
- Spencer Kohut led the way for Belmont Abbey with 21 kills and 10 digs.
- Matteo Miselli posted 17 kills while Kyle Ferguson posted 11 kills, five blocks and four digs.
- Jack Walsh handed out 56 assists and added six digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The 15 kills for Kennedy sets a career-high, topping his previous best of 11 set on Friday at the University of Mount Olive.
UP NEXT
- King travels to Queens University on Saturday. First serve from Charlotte, N.C. is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
- Belmont Abbey travels to Lees-McRae College on March 16.
