BRISTOL, Tenn. — The Catawba College men's volleyball team got back to .500 with a 3-0 sweep of the King University Tornado on Thursday evening at KU's Student Center Complex.
TEAM STATS
- Catawba (2-2) bagged 35 kills on a .176 hitting percentage while holding King (1-2) to a lower success rate of .098 and four fewer strikes
- The blue and white were slightly more reliable in service with 14 errors against King's 18 as both teams recorded three aces
- The blocking count heavily favored Catawba by a 9-5 margin with the digs category favoring the visitors 29-26
- Aside from service and attacking, King kept miscues to a minimum with one block error and no bad sets; Catawba was tagged with three block errors and a pair of errant sets
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Justin Arrowood piloted the offense with 14 kills and a .194 hitting clip, tallying his first two career service aces while contributing four digs and three blocks defensively
- Anders Christianson chipped in eight kills with five digs and a couple of block assists
- Kristian Smith stacked 27 assists from the setter position, finding paydirt for two kills in addition to a five-dig, three-block defensive effort
- Logan Neitzel headlined the blocking corps with five stops including a solo denial, also kicking in three digs and two kills
- Max Adkisson paced a group of players tabbed with at least one dig, tallying six in the victory
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Early-match kills from Arrowood and Christianson combined with multiple Tornado service errors powered Catawba in a see-saw battle
- King collected five points in a six-rally stretch to boast a 13-7 advantage midway through the set
- Arrowood delivered his second ace of the contest despite the visitors' inability to pull back within fewer than four
- To the tune of an incredible 8-2 flurry, Catawba accelerated to set point at 24-23
- Three more set points later, extended by a trio of matching Tornado points, Arrowood sealed it with a solo block for the 28-26 comeback triumph
Second Set
- Held to just one kill in the first 12 rallies, Catawba struggled to keep its momentum with an 8-4 deficit to start
- The Catawba Indians summoned a swift 7-0 run featuring a pair of John Clinton blasts that allowed Catawba to gain an 11-8 edge
- King retook the lead at 13-12 with a 5-1 surge, but the visitors put up a rally of their own in 7-1 fashion that created a five-point, 19-14 gap
- Kills by Dalton Claiborne and Catawba errors opened a window for the Tornado who cut the deficit to 22-21, but the blue and white extinguished the threat with three straight points for a 25-21 set win
Third Set
- Catawba strung together three kills in hopes of quickly building a big lead, but King capped the visitors' lead at two
- Neither side managed to earn a lead of more than two points until the set reached the 18-18 mark, when Catawba used five in a row to bolt ahead
- Reaching set point with a bullseye from Arrowood, the Tornado refused to go away with back-to-back blocks
- At 24-22, Arrowood smashed a feed from Smith to complete the clean sweep
UP NEXT
Catawba is scheduled to hit the court next Tuesday, Jan. 27, in a road match against Barton. Follow Catawba Athletics on social media for updates regarding forecasted winter weather and its potential effect on upcoming matches.
