SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's volleyball team hosts its biggest opponent to date on Saturday, battling the fourth-ranked Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors at 11 a.m.
Leading the Way
- Trevor Phillips paces the Catawba Indians with 168 total kills (3.73 strikes per frame) and 23 service aces while leading non-liberos with 70 digs
- Eli Zdonek is also well past the century mark offensively with 144 kills on a team-best .263 success rate; on defense, the Greenville, S.C. native has 68 digs and 24 blocks (seven solo)
- In the blocking category, Wyatt Eastin's 29 blocks tops the list as fellow middle Jacob Brown has 24 stops to share the second-highest slot with Zdonek
- Kristian Smith has been everywhere for Catawba in the inaugural season, fulfilling typical setter duties with 433 assists (9.62 per set) while tacking on 15 kills, 11 aces, 57 digs and 19 blocks
- Freshman Max Adkisson, Catawba's libero for 12 of the 13 matches, boasts a team-high 84 digs (averaging two per stanza) and has dished out 18 assists, the team's second-best mark
Eastin Making Stops
- Eastin has been a reliable presence at the net throughout his rookie campaign, recording eight solo blocks among his team-high 29 stops
- In his last seven contests, Eastin has recorded a solo denial in six matches with 0.79 blocks per set (19 blocks in 24 sets played)
- The Simpsonville, S.C. product has been dominant on home court, elevating for 13 blocks in as many stanzas while helping the Catawba Indians to a 3-2 record at Goodman Arena
Hawaiian Connections
- Kekona Ulu hails from Kailua-Kona, a town on the island of Hawai'i (also referred to as the Big Island), and is a 2024 graduate of Kealakehe High School where he was a two-time BIIF Most Outstanding Athlete selection
- Zdonek competed against the Rainbow Warriors when he was at Emmanuel last season, combining for seven kills and seven digs in a season-opening twinbill in Honolulu
- Phillips also saw action against Hawai'i while in his junior campaign at Ball State, appearing in both of the Cardinals' matches on Oʻahu for one set apiece
- Head coach Bill Ferguson, who spent nine seasons (2007-15) at USC, holds a 12-10 record in matches against the Rainbow Warriors
Scouting the Rainbow Warriors
- On Saturday morning, Hawai'i will be at the halfway point of its four-match trip to North Carolina that began with a Thursday night sweep of Belmont Abbey, improving its record to 10-1
- The 2021 and 2022 national champions have beaten seven of their eight ranked opponents this season including a series sweep of then-No. 5 BYU to retain the No. 4 spot in the AVCA Coaches' Poll
- Tread Rosenthal was a key piece in the Rainbow Warriors' victory against the Crusaders on Thursday, dishing out 40 assists with eight digs while Louis Sakanoko racked up 13 kills on a .556 hitting percentage in the three-set win
- Rosenthal (10.74 assists per set) and Kristian Titriyski (4.89 points per set) rank fifth nationally with their team-best offensive marks
- As a team, Hawai'i stands among the country's top 10 teams in kills (12.93), hitting percentage (.348), assists (12.19), aces (2.09) and blocks (2.54) on a per-set basis
Follow Along
Tune in to the match on FloCollege ($) or follow the live stats on CatawbaAthletics.com.
