UHSP Starts off Tennessee Weekend with a Victory over Brescia

LEBANON, TENN. - The Eutectic men's volleyball team travelled to Lebanon, Tenn., to play three matches in two days at Cumberland University's Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena. For the first matchup on Friday night, the UHSP team earned a straight-set win in a neutral match against the Brescia University Bearcats (Ky.)(4-14): 25-18, 25-16, 30-28.

The Eutectic offense showed its prowess in Set 1, averaging .542 for attacking percentage from 16 kills on 24 attempts with only three errors. The two teams began the set neck-and-neck, tying the score at nearly every number until, at 11-11, two kills in a row by Marcus Parker (set by Cole Cwiklowski), followed by a Bearcat error and a kill by Dickson Colado (from Cwiklowski) gave the Purple and Gold a lead they would not give up. The Bearcats tried to catch up, getting to 16-15 before a five-point UHSP scoring streak shut down their efforts and put the Euts up 21-15. With the score at 22-18, the UHSP team won the final three points in a row off two kills by Grant Hoover (from Cwiklowski) and an ace from Cameron Werner to win the set at 25-18.

The Eutectics took a 2-0 lead to start off the second set off two kills by Connor Behymer and never gave up the lead. As in the first set, the UHSP offense worked well, with a hitting percentage at .400 (11 kills, three errors, 20 attempts). But, in this set the Eutectic defense also shone, racking up three blocks and forcing seven total attacking errors by the Bearcats to lower the home team's hitting percentage to .034. The Euts took a 13-6 lead after a kill by Xavier Gamayo and a block by Colado ad Werner, and later a solo block from Marcus Parker sparked a three-point run to go up 23-14. The Bearcats gave up UHSP's final two points on service errors to give the Euts a 25-16 set win and a 2-0 match lead.

The momentum remained with the Eutectics as the third set began. Kills from Parker and Hoover set up by Cwiklowski put the Euts up 10-5 and 14-8. But, the Bearcats persisted, upping their attacking game to close the gap and eventually winning four points in a row to tie the score at 19-19. The teams then matched each other point for point until the Eutectics were blocked with a match-point point advantage to tie the set at 25-25. The teams continued to battle, with each team saving set-point once more until at 28-28, a kill by Cooper Hansen (set by Cwiklowski) was followed by an Bearcat attacking error to finish the set for a UHSP victory at 30-28 and a 3-0 match win.

Dickson Colado racked up 10 kills, five blocks, and four digs in the match. Grant Hoover hit at .615 with nine kills on 13 attempts with only one error. Cole Cwiklowski ran the offense, racking up 38 assists, but also contributed seven of the team's 34 total digs. 

The Eutectic record improves to 14-6 overall as they will return to the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena on Saturday to finish the trip off with a tri-match. At 3 p.m., the Euts will attempt to avenge their previous loss to Campbellsville University (Ky.)(14-7) in a neutral-site match. Following that, they face the home team of Cumberland University (6-8) for the first time this season at 5:30 p.m.