University of Mount Olive finished the home regular season with a 25-21, 25-22, 15-25, 26-24 victory over Barton College Tuesday night inside the Kornegay Arena for Conference Carolinas men's volleyball. Mount Olive rallied in the fourth set to take the match as the team hit for a combined .351 hitting percentage.
Mount Olive (11-10 Overall, 10-6 Conference Carolinas) won the opening set on the arms of Robert Poole and Mike Mann as both picked up four kills apiece in the opening set.
Poole opened up in the second set as he picked up six more kills to help Mount Olive take the second set 25-22.
Barton (18-5, 12-3) stopped the momentum in the third set as the Bulldogs minimized their attacking errors by two from the first set and hit for a match high .474. Aleska Brkovic and Vasilis Mandilaris both tied for a set high four kills as Barton took the third set.
Mount Olive needed to play a few extra points in the final set to win the match. The Trojans were within a single point of taking the set but a three point swing tied the match at 24. Mount Olive picked up the winning point on a Bulldog serving error as the serve sailed out of bounds and the Trojans took the match.
Poole led the Trojans offensively with 14 kills. He also added three service aces, five digs, and five total blocks. Mike Mann was just behind Poole as he finished with 11 kills and added six digs and four total blocks. Jeff Yasalonis helped the offence as he picked up 45 assists in the match and also had one service ace.
Mount Olive will hit the road to round out the 2016 regular season with a pair of Conference Carolinas matches. The Trojans travel to Banner Elk, N.C. on Friday at 7 p.m. and concluded the season at King on Saturday at 11 a.m.