COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Catawba College men's volleyball team put away Benedict in straight sets on Wednesday night, stacking the sixth 3-0 victory of its inaugural season.
TEAM STATS
- Catawba (11-8) recorded the program's best hitting percentage of .425 while holding Benedict (9-8) to a .161 mark
- The blue and white also registered a season-high .557 setting clip against the Tigers' .333
- Although Benedict was more accurate in service (.915-.784), Catawba landed an 8-3 margin in aces to set a new per-set program record
- Defensively, the Catawba Indians held a 20-14 advantage in digs while the hosts finished with a 4-1 edge in blocking
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Eli Zdonek paced the attack with 17 kills on a .600 success rate, also launching three aces while chipping in four digs
- Cam Reeder also dropped in three service strikes to go with 11 kills while Trevor Phillips made three hitters in double figures using a 10-kill evening
- Wyatt Eastin teamed with Phillips for the squad's only team block as the Simpsonville, S.C. product bagged two kills on offense
- Kristian Smith matched his three-set season high of 42 assists, the fifth-best total nationwide, in addition to contributing four digs and two kills
- Max Adkisson accounted for over a quarter of Catawba's digs, making six stops with one assist
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Reeder hurled in the Catawba Indians' first two kills to key a 5-2 start
- Benedict chipped away to get to 8-6, but three quick points from the visitors forced the Tigers to call timeout
- Despite going back-and-forth for a few rallies, Catawba broke it open with an 8-2 run that was halted at 22-12
- Phillips, Zdonek and Smith each had a kill to eventually finish off the opening frame in 25-17 fashion
Second Set
- The Tigers rebounded to stay neck-and-neck with Catawba for a dozen points, even holding a 6-5 advantage
- Catawba won five straight rallies behind three smashes from Reeder before Benedict tightened the gap to two on a pair of Jared Brown blocks
- Riding a 7-2 wave consisting of multiple miscues and two Phillips strikes, the blue and white boasted an 18-11 edge
- A Nate Seeger ace and a trio of kills from Zdonek down the stretch helped seal the stanza at 25-20
Third Set
- Benedict got off to a strong 3-1 start, but the Catawba offense powered by Zdonek and Phillips fired back to take a 7-5 lead
- After two Tiger points to even the score, Zdonek found paydirt for a side-out ahead of back-to-back aces served up by Reeder
- A pair of blasts by Brown later in the set lifted the Catawba Indian edge to six at 21-15; the hosts responded with a 6-1 momentum shift that sliced the deficit down to 22-21
- Coming out of its lone timeout of the affair, Catawba won the next three rallies with Zdonek's ace adding the exclamation point in the 25-21 set and 3-0 sweep
UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians look to keep the streak alive when they visit the High Country on Friday, Mar. 28 to face Lees-McRae at 7 p.m.
