FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga - Men's volleyball took on the Barton College Bulldogs on Monday afternoon. The Lions defeated the Bulldogs in five sets, 3-2. The win moves the Lions' record to 3-7 overall and 2-5 in conference play. The victory also marks the first time Emmanuel men's volleyball has beat Barton in eight years. 

The Lions led by five points early in the first set, 8-3. The Bulldogs got back within one as the Lions led 11-10. The momentum went back and forth until the Lions led by three points late, 21-18. All six of the last points in the set were scored by seniors Don Thompson and Aleksa Lakic, who recorded three kills a piece en route to Emmanuel taking the first set, 25-23. 

The Bulldogs captured the lead in the beginning of the second set, 6-3. The Lions fought to tie the score at nine, which was followed by a back and forth exchange of points by both teams. With the score tied at 18, a kill each from Aleksa Lakic and Don Thompson gave the Lions a two point advantage. The Bulldogs were unable to recover as the Lions took the set by four points, 25-21. 

The third set began with multiple lead changes as neither team could pull away. In the middle of the set the Lions managed to take a four point lead, 14-10. However, the Bulldogs made a late charge to tie the set at 21. After an error and a kill by the Bulldogs, kills from Aleksa Lakic and sophomore Jayden Young gave the Lions the lead, 24-22. But four straight points from Barton gave them the set, 26-24.

The fourth set once again began with a slew of lead changes until momentum from Barton gave them the lead in the middle of the set, 14-10. Kills from Lakic, Thompson, and Jayden Young got the Lions back within one. However, Barton continued to control the set until they lead 24-19. With Thompson serving, Emmanuel put together a four point run that was nearly enough to give them the victory, but the Bulldogs ended up taking the set, 25-23. 

With the game sent into a tiebreaker fifth set, the Lions began with back to back blocks to lead 2-1 early on. Then, with Lakic serving, the Lions put together an incredible nine point run. The run included a myriad of kills from both Lakic and Thompson, with the team recording two blocks as well. Lakic also recorded back to back service aces in the dominate stretch of play by Emmanuel. Barton managed to get to six points in the set, but the game was capped off by two consecutive kills from Lakic en route to his career high performance that fueled the victory for the Lions. 

The Lions were lead by Aleksa Lakic. After recording a career high 24 kills on Sunday against Mount Olive, Lakic improved on his performance with an incredible 26 kills. The senior from Serbia also had a season high 5 blocks, 8 digs, 2 aces, and a hitting percentage of .408 in his impressive performance. Following closely behind was Don Thompson, who had 21 kills. The senior duo of Lakic and Don Thompson have now totaled 47 kills in two straight games. The Flying Hawaiian also had 6 blocks (a season high), 8 digs, and a stunning hitting percentage of .625 (also a season high). The sophomore setter Henrik Westhoff recorded an impressive 53 assists for the game along with 2 blocks and 6 digs. Additionally, Westhoff was recognized as Conference Carolinas specialist of the week after a career high 59 kills on Sunday against Mount Olive.

Next up, men's volleyball will travel to South Carolina to take on Southern Wesleyan University on Saturday, March 6 at 2:00pm. 

For more on Emmanuel College athletics, visit goeclions.com.