GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's volleyball team won its final match against Thomas More on Sunday (Feb. 15). It was announced earlier this year that it would be the last season for the Saints' program.
The Pioneers (7-3) downed the Saints (0-7) in four sets, by scores of 25-16, 20-25, 27-25, 25-17.
With just seven active players, Dominic Rossi and Maciej Kopacz led TMU with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Noah Smith-Trondle dished out 28 assists, while both Rossi and Will Strasser landed a pair of service aces. Rossi also led the way in digs with 12, as Smith-Trondle was credited with five total blocks.
Tusculum primarily used its bench in the match. Greyson Ervin (13) and Adam Svendsen (12) led the offense in kills, ahead of Ian Johnson (6), Tyler Morrison (5), Donovan Nye (5), and Brody Morrison (2). The latter finished with a team-best 27 assists, while Nye and Riley Wisniakowski each tallied two aces. Defensively, Johnson scooped up 10 digs, followed by Ervin, Svendsen, and Teagan Clement with seven digs apiece. At the net, Tyler Morrison was credited with eight block assists, tying the four-set record.
Thomas More hit .049 as a team with 36 kills and 30 errors on 123 total attempts. Tusculum hit .182 with 43 kills, 23 errors, and 110 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Saints in assists (40-33), digs (45-42), and total blocks (15-10). The teams tied with five service aces apiece.
Neither team got more than a two-point separation until midway through the first set, resulting in 11 ties and six lead changes. Down 11-9, Tusculum went on a 7-1 rally to lead 16-12, highlighted by a pair of Nye aces. The Pioneers closed the set on another 7-1 spurt with two Wisniakowski aces and two of the four blocks in the frame. TU held Thomas More to a negative hitting percentage as well.
Thomas More flipped the script on Tusculum in set two. The Saints held the Pioneers to an even .000 hitting clip, while recording four aces and five blocks in the frame. TMU won the first four points of the set before TU came back to lead 11-7. A 5-1 run tied the frame at 12-all as the teams continued to joust. The Saints, down 16-15, won 10 of the final 14 scores, forcing the lone timeout of the match in the span.
The third set needed overtime, seeing six ties and two lead changes. The Saints had their highest hitting percentage in the frame (.116), but Tusculum eked out the victory. The largest lead in the set was a mere four points, including at 19-15 in the visitor's favor. TU went on a 6-2 rally to tie the frame at 21-21 as the teams jostled for the win. Thomas More fought off two set-points as the Pioneers strung together back-to-back scores at 25-all, with a kill by Svendsen and a solo rejection by Johnson.
The only lead change in the final set was at 9-8, with Tusculum holding the margin for the remainder of the match. TU hit .321 and tallied 6.5 blocks in a rounded effort to close out the evening. The final five kills came from five different Pioneers: Ervin, Tyler Morrison, Nye, Svendsen, and Johnson.
Tusculum is on the road for its final two matches of the month: the 20th at North Greenville (7 p.m.) and the 26th at Ball State (6 p.m.).
