Andrew Sydow led the team with nine kills as the University of Mount Olive won in straight sets 25-19 25-22 25-22 against Lees-McRae College Friday night for Conference Carolinas men's volleyball. Mount Olive used a couple of late runs in the first and third set to secure the match win.
In the opening set Mount Olive (4-3 Overall, 4-1 Conference Carolinas) tallied the opening point off a kill by Victor Fraga Leal. The Trojans trailed early in the set as Lees-McRae (1-5, 0-4) jumped ahead 9-4. Mount Olive recovered and with a side out scored five straight points to tie the game at nine. The Bobcats regained the lead but it did not remain for long as down 16-15 the Trojans made one final push for the set win. Mount Olive finished the set on a 12-3 run to win the opening set 25-19.
The second set saw both teams battle it out exchanging two points at a time then down to a single point exchange, until Mount Olive broke the tied set of 6-6. The Trojans utilized two three point runs in the middle of the set to take a 12-8 lead. The lead went to as high as 21-12 before the Bobcats sided out and rallied for five unanswered points to bring the set closer at 22-17.
Bret Rutledge was able to stop the rally with a kill, but Lees-McRae did not go away as they too sided out again and scored two more points to take the deficit to 23-20. Leal closed out the set with a kill and the Trojans had a two set lead.
Lees-McRae controlled a majority of the third set as Mount Olive could only tie the game five times but never get the go ahead point. The Trojans offensive kicked into gear down 15-12 to rallied for a four point run to give them their first lead of the set at 16-15. The Trojans used the swing in momentum to not allow the Bobcats to tie the set for the remainder of the set. Mount Olive finished on a 6-2 run capped off with a Mike Mann kill and an attack error by the Bobcats and the Trojans took the match.
Sydow added four blocks to go along with his team high nine kills. Mann finished behind him and had the highest kill percentage of the team at .700 with eight kills and two blocks. Fraga Leal had seven digs to add to his seven kills.
Brady Markle led the Bobcats with 12 kills.
Mount Olive remains on the road as they will finish off a two game road trip with a visit to Conference Carolinas foe King University tomorrow. First set is scheduled for 5 p.m.