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Some of the top Mount Olive players from this decade are receiving a college men’s volleyball honor
Off the Block announced on Thursday the seven players selected to the Mount Olive All-Decade Starting Lineup presented by Off the Block.
The All-Decade Starting Lineup recognizes the best players to compete with a team since 2010. Similar to the starting lineup for a match, the All-Decade honor is comprised of a setter, opposite and libero along with two outside attackers and middle attackers.
The Off the Block staff determined the All-Decade Starting Lineup using a variety of factors including career statistical performance and the team’s overall success when a player was a member of the program.
This is also part of a series from Off the Block to celebrate the end of the decade in college men’s volleyball. Off the Block throughout the rest of 2019 will release an All-Decade Starting Lineup for every NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball team.
Mount Olive won three ConfCarolinas regular season championships during the decade. In addition, the Trojans twice advanced to the ConfCarolinas Tournament finals since the conference started receiving an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2014.
Off the Block is a national award winning website that was established in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball.
Mount Olive All-Decade Starting Lineup presented by Off the Block
Setter: Jeff Yasalonis
Opposite: Robert Poole
Outside attacker: Angel Dache
Outside attacker: Adam Miracle
Middle attacker: Andrew Sydow
Middle attacker: Luke Visgitis
Libero: Josh Donahue
Coming off the bench: Bret Rutledge, Peyton Schirman, Eric Visgitis
Angel Dache (2011-14)
Awards and honors: 2011 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2013 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2013 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team, 2014 ConfCarolinas Player of the Year, 2014 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2014 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team
Along with being the school’s all-time career kills leader, Dache finished second in program history with a .304 career attack percentage. Dache ended his senior season leading the conference and being third in the nation with a 4.19 kills per game average en route to becoming the last Trojan to win the ConfCarolinas Player of the Year. The outside attacker that season had at least 20 kills in six matches, including a match-high 21 kills on a .385 attack percentage in a road loss to Lewis. Dache during the previous season was in the conference’s top five with both a 3.60 kills per game average and a .336 attack percentage as he led the Trojans to the ConfCarolinas regular season championship.
Josh Donahue (2014-19)
Awards and honors: 2015 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2017 ConfCarolinas Defensive Player of the Year, 2017 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2017 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team, 2018 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team
Donahue set the program record with 1,008 career digs — more than 400 digs than any other Mount Olive player. The libero finished each of his four seasons in the ConfCarolinas top five for digs. As a sophomore Donahue led the nation with a 3.29 digs per game average and had a season-high 26 digs in a victory versus Barton. In addition, Donahue was third in the nation averaging 2.79 digs per game in 2017.
Adam Miracle (2010-13)
Awards and honors: 2010 ConfCarolinas Freshman of the Year, 2011 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2012 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2013 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Miracle remains in the school’s top five all-time with both 958 career kills and a .304 career attack percentage. The outside attacker was third in the conference and in the nation’s top 30 with a career-high 3.41 kills per game average as he led Mount Olive to the 2012 ConfCarolinas Tournament finals. In addition, Miracle the following season had double-digit kills in 10 matches and helped the Trojans win the conference’s regular season title.
Robert Poole (2015-18)
Awards and honors: 2017 National Server of the Year finalist, 2017 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2017 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team, 2018 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Poole is one of two players in Mount Olive’s program history to have at least 1,000 career kills. The pin-hitter was in the conference’s top five for kills in back-to-back seasons, including being 15th in the nation with a career-best 3.48 kills per game average in 2017. Poole also holds the school record with 180 career aces — 40 more aces than second place. In his senior season, Poole led the nation with a 0.75 aces per game average and had at least five aces in four conference matches.
Andrew Sydow (2014-17)
Awards and honors: 2015 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Sydow holds the Mount Olive record during the 25-point rally scoring era and is third all-time in program history with 251 career blocks. The middle attacker finished the 2015 season fifth in the conference with a career-best 1.01 blocks per game average — his first of three straight years in the ConfCarolinas top 15 for blocks. Sydow during that sophomore season was second in the ConfCarolinas hitting .461, including having a season-high 16 kills on an .842 attack percentage in a late-season victory against Barton. He also finished his time at Mount Olive with a .389 career attack percentage.
Luke Visgitis (2018 – present)
Awards and honors: 2018 Third-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2019 Third-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Visgitis finished last season ninth in the nation with a .413 attack percentage and had double-digit kills in 11 matches. Among his top offensive performances included a season-high 18 kills while hitting .500 in a victory against Limestone. This also was the second consecutive season that Visgitis had more than a .325 attack percentage. Along with his offensive performance, Visgitis had more than 60 blocks in back-to-back seasons.
Jeff Yasalonis (2015-18)
Awards and honors: 2017 Third-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 Third-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Yasalonis set the program record with 2,601 career assists and was in the ConfCarolinas top four for assists during each of his three seasons as the Trojans starting setter. In addition, Yasalonis had a career-high 10.48 assists per game average in 2016 and guided the offense to a .268 attack percentage — Mount Olive’s highest single-season attack percentage since the ConfCarolinas started receiving an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The setter along with his offense performance is seventh in program history with a 1.56 digs per game average, including being 11th in the ConfCarolinas averaging 1.79 digs per game during his senior season.