BRISTOL, Tenn. – The third seeded King University men's volleyball team came away with a sweep of second seed Erskine College in the second Conference Carolinas Men's Volleyball Championship semifinal on Friday night.
Warren Davis and
Kellan Kennedy paced the offense to the 3-0 victory, advancing the Tornado to Saturday's championship match.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: No. 3 King 3, No. 2 Erskine 0 (25-17. 25-21, 25-21)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 15-15; Erskine 14-13
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- King got off to a hot start, taking a 6-3 lead before the teams started to trade points.
- The Tornado held the lead at about four points before taking a 15-10 lead on an AJ Drooker kill.
- Three straight kills from Aaron Milstead, Davis and Jackson Carroll then gave King an 18-11 lead.
- King later scored the final three points of the set on two Kennedy kills around a Davis ace, taking the set 25-17.
Second Set
- The Tornado broke a 10-10 tie with three straight points, the final two on Kennedy aces as Erskine called for a timeout.
- Erskine pulled within one on numerous occasions, but King scored four of the final five points, as a Davis kill gave King the 25-21 victory.
Third Set
- Erskine jumped out to a 5-2 lead before a Milstead kill got the Tornado going.
- King later scored four straight points, capped by a Milstead ace and Davis kill to take an 8-7 lead.
- The Tornado held the lead, and stretched the advantage to 15-10 before the Flying Fleet went on a run.
- Erskine scored seven of the next nine points to even the set at 17.
- The tally was even at 18 before three straight Tornado points, the first two on kills from Davis.
- Drooker then gave King the 25-21 win with a kill, giving King the match 3-0.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Davis led the Tornado with 15 kills.
- Kennedy followed with nine kills and a .533 attack percentage. He added two aces, three blocks and three digs.
- Jack Sarnowski handed out 32 assists while Justin Sawyer posted seven digs.
- Drooker chipped in with six kills and six digs.
FOR THE FOES
- Conference Carolinas Offensive Player of the Year Kacper Rybarczyk led Erskine with nine kills while Jason Sall and Edgerrin Austin chipped in with eight kills apiece.
- Francisco Pomar handed out 22 assists and added 10 digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- King advances to the conference championship match for the fourth time. The Tornado won their lone tournament title in 2018 and finished runner-up in 2019 and 2011.
UP NEXT
- King advances to the Conference Carolinas Men's Volleyball Championship on Saturday night in the Student Center Complex.
- The Tornado will take on top seed, Conference Carolinas regular season champion North Greenville at 6:30 p.m.
- King and North Greenville split two matches this season, each winning on their home floor. The Tornado took a 3-2 win over the Crusaders on February 8 in the Student Center Complex.
