University of Mount Olive Baseball, Men's and Women's Lacrosse, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, and Men's and Women's Track and Field teams are set to begin the Conference Carolinas Spring Championships this week.
Baseball:
No. 3 seed Mount Olive (28-13 Overall, 15-10 Conference Carolinas) will open up the baseball Conference Carolinas tournament against No. 4 seed Erskine College at 11 a.m. April 25, in Tigerville, S.C., in the third game of the tournament, following the first two play-in games Wednesday. Mount Olive split a rain-shortened two game series last weekend against Erskine prior to the start of the tournament.
The Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship Website can be found here.
Men's Lacrosse:
No. 12 Mount Olive (12-3 Overall, 5-2 Conference Carolinas) enters the men's lacrosse Conference Carolinas tournament as the No. 3 seed. Mount Olive will take on the No. 2 seed and No. 4 ranked Belmont Abbey College at 3 p.m. from the Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex in Mount Olive, N.C. on April 26.
Mount Olive fell to the Crusaders 13-8 in March in Belmont, N.C. Gunner Parson led the team in goals with three and added two groundballs and a caused turnover.
The Trojans are coming off a 22-6 win over No. 6 seed Emmanuel College in the Quarterfinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament.
The Trojans enter the tournament ranked third in Division II in scoring defense with 7.47 goals per game. Andrew Avarello is ranked 3rd in Division II in goals-against average (7.18) and 2nd in save percentage (64.4). The Trojans as a defensive unit, are ranked 1st in man-down defensive with three goals allowed in 50 attempts.
The Conference Carolinas Men's Lacrosse Championship Website can be found here.
Women's Lacrosse:
No. 23 Mount Olive (13-5 Overall, 9-1 Conference Carolinas) enters the women's lacrosse Conference Carolinas tournament as the No. 2 seed. Mount Olive will take on the No. 3 seed Belmont Abbey College on Thursday, April 25 at 3 p.m. at the Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex in Mount Olive, N.C.
UMO defeated BAC 17-12 earlier this season when the Trojans hosted the Crusaders back on March 6. In the first encounter this season a pair of freshmen in Meaghan Michaud and Tiffany Lee each tallied four goals en route to the five-goal win.
Mount Olive defeated Southern Wesleyan 24-0 in the quarterfinal round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament.
The Trojans enter the tournament rank in the top-25 in caused turnovers per game (17th), ground balls per game (15th), scoring defense (11th), scoring margin (13th), and shots on goal per game (18th).
The Conference Carolinas Women's Lacrosse Championship Website can be found here.
Men's Tennis:
No. 1 seed Mount Olive (11-6 Overall, 8-1 Conference Carolinas) will open up the Conference Carolinas Men's Tennis Tournament against the No. 8 seed Lees-McRae College Friday, April 26 at 9 a.m. in Sumter, S.C.
Earlier this season the Trojans swept the Bobcats of LMC 7-0 in Banner Elk, N.C. Mount Olive looks to carry the momentum of their four-game win streak that closed out the regular season into the tournament and make a run for the tournament title.
UMO is led by reigning freshman and player of the year, Armando Ferreira, who went 14-4 overall and 13-6 in doubles. Joining Ferreira are Milosh Petrovic and Pablo Safont Ferrer who both went undefeated in conference singles action at the No. 3 and No. 5 flights.
The Conference Carolinas Men's Tennis Championship Website can be found here.
Women's Tennis
No. 4 seed Mount Olive (10-8 Overall, 9-2 Conference Carolinas) will open up the Conference Carolinas Women's Tennis Tournament against the No. 5 seed Barton College Friday, April 26 at 12 p.m. in Sumter, S.C.
Mount Olive narrowly defeated Barton earlier this season 4-3 in a heated conference showdown in Wilson, N.C. The Trojans won four singles matches, 2,4,3,5, after trailing 2-0 to take the match 4-3 over the Bulldogs.
Lina Maria Alarcon leads the way for the Trojans with an unblemished record against conference opponents as she went 10-0 throughout the season.
The Conference Carolinas Women's Tennis Championship Website can be found here.
Softball:
No. 4 seed Mount Olive (33-17 Overall, 12-8 Conference Carolinas) will open the Conference Carolinas Softball Tournament against No. 5 seed Lees-McRae College on Friday, April 26 at 11 a.m. from Burlington, N.C.
Mount Olive split a doubleheader against Lees-McRae on March 23. The Trojans had a 1-0 extra-inning loss in game one to the Bobcats who won with a walk-off single. UMO came back in game two to win 3-1 in a strong bottom of the fifth that saw a double from Eileen Barrera and a pair of singles from Amber Elliott and Cassandra Lassiter.
The Trojan defense has had a strong season posting 13 shutouts behind lights out pitching from Haley Brogden and Mallory Ratcliff. Between the two pitchers, UMO has tallied 157 strikeouts and boasts a team ERA of 1.97, second best in the conference.
The Conference Carolinas Softball Championship Website can be found here.
Men's Track and Field:
University of Mount Olive men's and women's track and field teams look to make it six years in a row winning the Conference Carolinas Outdoor Championship. The men's and women's championship meets will take place April 26-27 at Southern Wesleyan University in Central, S.C.
At last year's championship, the 4x400m relay team of Richard Fisher, Montre Holmes, Johnny Middlebrooks, and Tedric Shannon broke the school record but also set an NCAA Provisional Qualifier in the process just two seconds away from an automatic qualifier. The Trojans won 26 individual medals during the championships including having nine Trojans win individual championships.
The Trojans are coming off a strong showing at the Duke Invitational in Durham N.C. last Weekend. Tai Smith set an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time in the 5000m at the meet.
The Conference Carolinas Track Championship Website can be found here.
At last year's championship, Mount Olive had 26 Trojans earn individual medals including seven becoming Conference Carolinas Champions. Candise Lockett set the new conference championship record in the hammer with her throw of 50.76m breaking the record previously held by UMO Alum Nicole Poppe from 2015 of 47.90m. Leah Hanle set the new conference championship record in the steeplechase with her time of 10:18.33 breaking the record previously held by Ashley Sutherland from Converse College from 2015 of 11:21.23.
The women's team are also coming off a strong showing at the Duke Invitational in Durham N.C. last Weekend.
The Conference Carolinas Track Championship Website can be found here.