Box Score Due West, S.C. – Erskine lost to conference-leading Mount Olive College 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-19) in men’s volleyball action at Belk Arena.

In the first two sets, neither team could gain any offensive momentum until late in the sets.  With the score tied at 10-10, Mount Olive (9-3, 8-0) grabbed their first two point lead in the first set when Angel Dache put the Trojans up 12 to 10 with a kill.  Shortly thereafter the Trojans got two kills sandwiched around a Fleet attack error to lengthen their lead to 17 to 13.  Mount Olive won the opening set 25 to 19.

Erskine (4-6, 3-5) fell behind early in the second set 6 to 3 but roared back to take their first lead at 9 to 8 on three consecutive blocks as Mike Kawa teamed up with Omar Melendez twice and Neal Stanley.  After swapping a series of points, Erskine grasped their first significant lead of the match at 17 to 14 on back-to-back kills by Mike Michaleu and Kawa forcing the Trojans to call timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Trojans went to their middle hitter Tim Ebbecke for two kills and a block to tie the set yet again at 17 to 17.  With the two teams again trading points, Mount Olive broke a 21-21 by scoring the last four points to win the set 25 to 21.

Erskine never could regain the momentum as Mount Olive sprinted out to an early 13 to 5 lead in the third set.  Erskine eventually settled down but could not cut into the Mount Olive lead losing the third and final set 25 to 19.

Kawa led the Fleet with 9 kills and 5 blocks while Michaleu finished with 8 kills and 9 digs.

For the Trojans, Ebbecke made the most of his limited opportunities, knocking down 8 kills on just 11 attempts.  He also had 4 blocks.  Miracle led all attackers with 10 kills.

Erskine will look to snap their two-game losing skid next Friday when they travel up the mountain to Banner Elk, North Carolina, to face the Bobcats of Lees-McRae College.