DUE WEST, S.C.  – The Erskine Men's Volleyball team (3-2, 0-1 CC) was defeated by North Greenville University (3-1, 1-1 CC) in three sets on Friday night by a score of 19-25, 20-25, 17-25.
 
THE ESSENTIALS:
Conf. Carolinas Standings | Stats | Scores
Div. II Scores | Record Book | Conf. Carolinas Digital Network
 
THE SERIES
North Greenville now leads the all-time series 7-4 and the Crusaders have won four straight meetings. Erskine's last win over North Greenville was a five-set victory in January 2019. 

THE MATCH
Set 1: The Fleet and Crusaders went back and forth through the early and middle stages of the opening set before a Jon Fuller kill gave the Fleet a 14-13 lead. But, the Crusaders answered by taking the next six points to take a five-point lead which caused Erskine to take a timeout. The Fleet got the ensuing point on a Justin Rendon kill, but the Crusaders won the following four points to cruise to a 25-19 victory in Set 1.
 
Set 2: North Greenville started the second set on a 5-0 run fueled by a pair of aces from Sergio Carrillo. Erskine clawed back in the middle stages of the set after an Edgerrin Austin kill and an NGU attack error got the Fleet within a point at 16-15, but the Crusaders had a late 5-1 run and closed out Set 2 with a 25-20 victory. 
 
Set 3: The beginning of Set 3 was a back-and-forth affair capped by another Austin kill to trim Erskine's deficit to 5-4. But, North Greenville won five of the next six points to take a 10-5 lead. The Fleet kept it close into the middle stages as a Crusaders attack error made it a 14-11 game, but North Greenville went on a 7-0 run and was well on their way to a 25-17 victory in Set 3 and a sweep of the Fleet.
 
THE PLAYER
Edgerrin Austin had a team-high 10 kills and seven digs for the Fleet in their conference opener. 
 
THE TEAM
Erskine hit just .026 (23 K / 21 E / 76 TA) in the loss, but the Fleet did tally four service aces, including a pair from Justin Rendon.

WHAT'S NEXT 
Erskine is back in action at home tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. against former Conference Carolinas foe, Limestone University (2-4, 0-1 Independent). The Saints lead the all-time series 10-7 and have won five straight as well as six of the last seven meetings between the teams. Erskine's last win in the series came in Gaffney back in February 2018. The teams met twice last year with Limestone picking up 3-0 sweeps in both matches.
 
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