Franklin Springs, Ga – The Emmanuel Men's Volleyball team hosted King University tonight in conference action. Tonight was Cultural Night, where the Lions honored the diverse backgrounds, cultures, and stories that make up the Lions program. The Lions opened the game with a 25-23 win in set one. The home team carried that momentum the rest of the way, closing out the game strong winning sets two and three, 25-16, 25-16. With the win, the Lions improve to 8-10 overall, 3-4 in conference action.
The Tornado jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in set one. The Lions answered with kills by
Elek Cumming,
Aidan Feeney,
Matthieu Bataille, and
Luke Wilson to tie the set at 6-6. The Lions continued a 5-0 run, made up of three kills by Wilson to take an 11-7 lead. Midway through the set, kills by Feeney and
Thijs Van der Wal put the Lions up 15-11. The Tornado responded with a 3-0 run to cut the Lions lead to 17-15, but kills by Wilson, Feeney and
Greg Bodus would put the Lions up 22-17. The Tornado rallied to cut the Lions lead to 24-23 late, but an attack error gave the Lions the set one win, 25-23.
In set two, the Lions took an early 3-2 lead on a service ace by Bodus. The Tornado responded to take a 6-4 lead, but Emmanuel answered with kills by Wilson and Feeney to tie the set at 7-7. Midway through the set, a 4-0 run gave the Lions the 15-11 lead. The Lions pushed ahead 18-12 on errors by the Tornado. Kills by Feeney and Cumming extended the Lions lead to 22-15 and the Lions closed the set strong on a kill by Feeney to give the Lions the set two win, 25-16.
The Lions opened the third set up 5-1, with kills by Cumming and Feeney. Kills by Bodus and Van der Wal pushed the Lions lead to 13-6 midway through the set. Kills by Feeney and attack errors by the Tornado put the Lions up 19-9 late in the set and kills by Wilson and Cumming along with an ace by Bodus closed the set strong, giving the Lions the set three win, 25-16 and the sweep, 3-0!
Overall, the Lions had 40 kills, 2 aces, 7 blocks, 35 assists, and 35 digs.
Aidan Feeney led the Lions with 18 kills on the night, with
Luke Wilson adding 9.
Greg Bodus had himself a night with 33 assists, 5 blocks, and 2 aces to lead the team.
Josh Staehler led the team in digs with 15.
Next up, the Lions will host Lees McRae College tomorrow at 2PM in the Shaw Athletic Center. For more information on Emmanuel University athletics visit goeulions.com.
