BRISTOL, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team won its fifth-straight contest via sweep after shutting out King on Tuesday (Feb. 3). This marks the second-longest winning streak in program history, as the 2025 team won six-straight.
The Pioneers (5-1) continued their hot start, blanking the Tornado (1-3) by scores of 25-15, 25-20, 25-22.
Colton Bueter led King with nine kills, while Joao Pedro Ribeiro distributed 26 assists. Defensively, Javier Saldivar scooped up nine digs and Kellen Woolm was credited with four blocks.
For Tusculum, Reef Mathis led the offense with nine kills, just ahead of Aiden Roper's seven. Morgan Makovec was 6-for-8 in his attempts, firing at a .750 clip. Rounding out the attack were Adam Svendsen (5), Caleb Hammann (4), Riley Wisniakowski (2), and Cooper Sadleir (1). Wisniakowski finished with 26 assists and landed two service aces. Patrick Gresham tallied a season-high eight digs. At the net, both Roper (two solo, three assists) and Makovec (five assists) were credited with five total blocks.
King hit .090 as a team with 30 kills and 22 errors on 89 total attempts. Tusculum hit .259 with 34 kills, 13 errors, and 81 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Tornado in assists (32-29), service aces (3-0), and total blocks (11.5-7). The teams tied with 30 digs each.
Tusculum set the tone early, leading the entire first set from start to finish, hitting .318. King kept the match close until the Pioneers rattled off a 9-3 run to lead 17-9. The Tornado attempted a late push, but three-straight scores at the end earned TU the 1-0 match advantage.
The second set was the most back-and-forth, featuring 11 ties and three lead changes. Neither team got any separation of more than two scores until Tusculum notched three points in a row to lead 22-19. After a kill by King, a service error swung the momentum back to the Pioneers. Roper blocked an attack attempt and he teamed up with Makovec for the set-clinching rejection as one of six TU blocks.
Both teams had their best offensive output in the final frame, as King hit .172 to Tusculum's .321. The third set was also tightly-contested with eight ties and three lead changes. The Pioneers used a 4-0 spurt to hold a 9-5 advantage but the Tornado rallied to tie the set at 15-all. The teams went neck-and-neck until a Makovec kill put TU up 22-19. Tusculum got a kill from Roper to make the score 23-20. The final two points for Tusculum were courtesy of King service errors.
Tusculum hosts Lees-McRae on Friday (Feb. 6) for a 6 p.m. first serve.
