Laurinburg, NC – The Webber International men's volleyball team took to the road for their first trip up north this season to battle the St. Andrews University Knights. The Warriors showed little to no struggle once again, winning another conference game to move them to 5-0 on the season with the defeat of the Knights 3-1.
The Warriors started off set one on fire, jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead behind three aces from
Trent Massey and a pair of kills from
Thoralf Schmelzer and
Carson Barnes. The Knights provided little resistance to the Warriors offensive onslaught with Gunter Perea collecting a pair of kills in the middle part of set one to push the lead to 15-7. After kills from
Kevin McCarthy and
Daniel Beacham, the Knights would call a timeout with the Warriors lead built up to 18-9. After the timeout, the Warriors kept on slicing and dicing the Knights defense with two kills from McCarthy, and Barnes, Perea, and Schmelzer each collecting another kill to wrap up set one for the Warriors convincingly, 25-14.
The tides slightly turned towards the Knights favor in set two, as mental errors made by the Warriors totaled six of the first 10 points for the Knights as their lead sat at 10-8. Perea and Barnes would keep the Warriors close with a kill each, but the Knights went on a run extending their lead to 15-10 with the Warriors taking a timeout.
Beacham and Perea played major roles in helping to keep the Warriors within striking distance with Beacham and Joshua Corr combing for a block and Perea striking down two kills. The Warriors would eventually bring the score to within two before eventually tying it all up at 23-23 with a Corr kill. However, the Knights would take the upper hand down the stretch and claim set two 26-24.
The Warriors found themselves in a similar situation to what they have been in all year, winning an early set and seeing their opposition attempt the comeback and the Warriors, once again, were up to the challenge of answering the call. They would rattle off a 9-2 run to start set three and not remotely look back as they cruised to a set three victory 25-12. The Warriors were led by six kills from Barnes, four from McCarthy, and three from Schmelzer to give the Warriors a chance to win the match in set four.
Barnes would get the party started for the Warriors in set four with his first of five kills of the set as he would finish with 17 kills total for the match. McCarthy would follow right behind Barnes to push the Warriors to 3-1 with his 10
th kill of the game and match. The Knights would put up more of a fight early in set four and battle back to take the lead at 5-4 with a 3-0 run of their own. Schmelzer would strike down for his first kill of the set to even the score back up at 5-5. Schmelzer would finish the match with 13 kills and four digs to bolster the Warriors play on both sides of the court. Barnes and Schmelzer would combine for six straight Warriors points with three kills each as the score remained knotted up at 16-16. The Warriors would be forced to take a timeout following a 3-0 Knights run, and out of the timeout the Warriors would go on a run to reclaim the lead at 20-19. McCarthy would serve up his second ace of the day and the Warriors would wrap up another decisive conference victory in four sets, beating the Knights 3-1.
The Warriors will travel up a bit farther north for their Saturday afternoon matinee match in Bluefield, VA against the Bluefield University Rams at 1 PM.
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