DUE WEST, S.C. – The Erskine College men's volleyball team (8-10, 3-5 CC) was swept by Belmont Abbey College (9-5, 5-3 CC) in straight sets, 18-25, 22-25, 16-25 at Belk Arena on Friday night.
 
THE ESSENTIALS:
Conf. Carolinas Standings | Stats | Scores
Div. II Scores | Record Book | Conf. Carolinas Digital Network
 
THE SERIES
Erskine and the Crusaders have now each won nine matches in the series, after Belmont Abbey has won the last eight meetings include a pair of three-set sweeps this year.

THE MATCH
Set 1: Belmont Abbey began the night with a 4-1 lead, but Erskine battled back and got level a couple times, but the Crusaders never let the Fleet get the lead and began pulling away in the middle stages before winning the last three points en route to a 25-18 win in the first set. Kacper Rybarczyk tallied five kills and an ace for Erskine in Set 1.

Set 2: Three different Erskine players got a kill for the first four Erskine points of the set as the Fleet took their first lead of the match at 4-3. The Fleet continued to lead behind six kills from Edgerrin Austin until the Crusaders went on a 6-1 scoring run to take a 20-17 lead. Some Belmont Abbey service errors and a Cole Vigo kill kept Erskine close, but the Crusaders won the last two points and took Set 2, 25-22.
 
Set 3: Kacper Rybarczyk tallied a kill on each of the first two Erskine points in Set 3, and again the Fleet held an early lead after another Rybarczyk kill made it a 10-8 game. But then Belmont Abbey came to life, winning five straight points, and a 7-0 scoring run moments later extended the Crusaders lead to 22-13 as they cruised to a 25-15 win in Set 3 and finished off a sweep of the Fleet for the second time this season.

THE PLAYER
Kacper Rybarczyk hit .348 (12 K / 4 E / 23 TA) and was joined in double digits in kills with Edgerrin Austin (11 kills). Rybarczyk also had two assists and six digs in the loss.
 
THE TEAM
Erskine hit .213 (34 K / 17 E / 80 TA) for the match but was dominated along the front row as Belmont Abbey totaled 10 blocks to Erskine's one. The Crusaders also hit .412 (35 K / 7 E / 68 TA) in the match.
 
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Fleet have a week off before continuing conference play with a five-match road trip, beginning at Lees-McRae (1-13, 1-8 CC) on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Erskine holds a 13-3 lead in the all-time series and beat the Bobcats in four sets earlier this year in Due West.
 
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