Box Score Due West, S.C. – King University grounded the Erskine Flying Fleet in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) tonight in Conference Carolinas men’s volleyball action at Belk Arena.

In the two first sets, the lead exchanged hands several times with neither team holding more than a three point lead at any given time.  King managed to rally to score the crucial points to win those sets.

In the first set, Erskine (3-2, 1-2) took the first significant lead at 8 to 5 highlighted by a kill by sophomore Neal Stanley (Apopka, FL).  King (3-4, 2-3) came back to tie the game at 9 all on a service ace by Zach Prexta then took a two point lead at 14 to 12, aided by three consecutive Fleet attack errors.  Erskine’s Mike Michelau (Bristol, WI, Westosha Central High School) recaptured the lead at 18 to 16 on back-to-back kills.  After tying the game at 22 apiece, King’s Justin Crane entered the game and served two aces.  The Fleet returned his third serve but was unable to set up a counter attack.  King’s Michael Kobel put down a hard kill to win the set 25 to 22.

The second set resembled the first one.  Erskine took a two point at early in the set behind another kill by Michelau.  Freshman Michael Schneck (Milwaukee, WI, Marquette University High School) served an ace to give the Fleet a three point lead at 12 to 9.  Coming out of a timeout, King became more aggressive at the net recording four of their next eight points via blocks.  Matthew Lychock was the lynchpin as he teamed up twice with Prexta and once with Stephen Brown.  The two teams again traded points until Erskine committed two attack errors late, including game point, as King won the set 25 to 22.

Unlike the first two sets, King leapt out to a 13 to 8 lead forcing Erskine Head Coach Derek Schmitt to call timeout.  Coach Schmitt settled his squad as they stormed back to take a one point lead at 22 to 21.  Mike Kawa (Debica, Poland, Elk Grove High School)ignited the run with a hard kill while Michelau ended it with three consecutive kills requiring King Head Coach Ryan Booher to take a timeout.  King tied the score at 23 to 23 then scored the last two points on a Fleet attack error and another block.

Michelau led the Fleet attack with 17 kills.  Kawa contributed 9 kills and 8 digs while Schneck had another strong performance at his setter position with 31 assists and 11 digs.

For King, Koebel had 8 kills while Lychock finished with 2 kills and 4 blocks. As a team, King had 7 blocks on the night.

The Fleet play their next three games on the road, including two in Florida.  On Tuesday, Erskine travels to Gaffney, South Carolina, to play conference foe Limestone College.  Next weekend the Fleet travel to Lake Wales, Florida, to play Warner University twice.