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The postseason resumes this evening with four teams still in contention for the Conference Carolinas’ first automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 1 seed Erskine after winning the conference regular season title will play host to No. 5 Barton in its Conference Carolinas Tournament semifinals match. In addition, the No. 2 seed Pfeiffer and the No. 3 seed Mount Olive will face each other in the other semifinal.
Check out the college men’s volleyball postseason matches to follow today.
No. 1 seed Erskine (19-6, 12-2 CC) vs. No. 5 seed Barton (12-16, 7-7 CC)
Match vitals: 3 p.m. in Due West, S.C.
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
Season series: Erskine leads series 2-0 (won both matches in three games in January and February)
Last CC Tournament title: Erskine (never); Barton (never)
What to know: Erskine after winning its first conference regular season championship in program history is two wins away from a spot in the NCAA Tournament. However it will first have beat the conference’s surprise team of the year Barton in the semifinals. The Fleet in their program’s second year won 15 of the their last 16 matches to close out the regular season, including a non-conference win against Cal Baptist in March. Barton became the first lower seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament history to win a quarterfinal match as it swept the No. 4 seed Limestone on Wednesday. Setter Federico Pagliara in the victory helped guide Barton to out-hit Limestone .305 to .191. Pagliara, a freshman from Italy, joined the team in the middle of the season and did not play in the two previous meetings against Erskine. This playoff match will also feature one of the top offensive players in the conference going up against one of the top defensive players. Erskine freshman outside attacker Robert Perez Vargas is in the conference’s top five with a 3.75 kills per game average. In addition, Barton libero Michael McMahon leads the nation with a 3.13 digs per game average and was named the Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year.
No. 2 seed Pfeiffer (13-11, 10-4 CC) vs. No. 3 seed Mount Olive (14-11, 10-4 CC)
Match vitals: 3 p.m. in Misenheimer, N.C.
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
Season series: Tied at 1-1 (Pfeiffer won in four games in February; Mount Olive won in four games in March)
Last CC Tournament title: Pfeiffer (2013); Mount Olive (2011)
What to know: The two teams that have won the last four Conference Carolinas Tournament championships will now meet for a spot in the title match. Pfeiffer following its first-round bye will play host Mount Olive in the Conference Carolinas Tournament semifinals. Mount Olive defeated Lees-McRae in four games in the quarterfinals. The Trojans had three players finish with double-digit kills in the victory, including outside attacker Steven Cruse who had a match-high 21 kills. In addition, Mount Olive outside attacker Angel Dache was named the 2014 Conference Carolinas Player of the Year after leading the conference with a 4.11 kills per game average during the regular season. Pfeiffer, the two-time defending conference champions, earned a top-two seed for the conference tournament ahead of Mount Olive because it held the head-to-head tiebreaker. In addition, Pfeiffer had two players earn First-Team All-Conference honors earlier this week — outside attacker Sonny Hirini and setter David Specian.