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Some of the best players in King’s program history are ending the decade with a college men’s volleyball accolade.
Off the Block announced on Friday the seven players selected to the King 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.
King was one of three teams this decade to win the ConfCarolinas championship and earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Tornado have reached conference tournament finals in back-to-back seasons and won the conference title in 2018.
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.
King All-Decade Starting Lineup presented by Off the Block
Setter: Nick Drooker
Opposite: Kiel Bell
Outside attacker: Jeff Sprayberry
Outside attacker: Eddie Moushikhian
Middle attacker: Jon Wheaton
Middle attacker: Matthew Lychock
Libero: Morris Cephas
Coming off the bench: James Friddle, Sean Kohlhase, Joel Salva
Kiel Bell (2014, 2017-18)
Awards and honors: 2018 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team
Bell was in the conference’s top 10 during his senior season with both a 3.05 kills per game average and a .289 attack percentage as he helped the Tornado win the ConfCarolinas championship. He also had double-digit kills in 15 matches that season, including 17 kills on a .483 attack percentage in a regular season victory against Barton. Along with his offensive performance during his only season in the starting lineup, Bell was fourth in the ConfCarolinas averaging 2.50 digs per game.
Morris Cephas (2009-11)
Awards and honors: 2011 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Cephas finished his senior season in the nation’s top 10 with a 2.31 digs per game average and helped the Tornado advance to the ConfCarolinas championship match. The libero also continues to hold the program’s career record with a 2.36 digs per game average.
Nick Drooker (2015-18)
Awards and honors: 2017 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team
Drooker holds three of the program’s career records with 3,892 assists, 179 aces and 747 digs. In his senior season, Drooker was in the nation’s top 15 with a 9.74 assists per game average and guided the offense to the team’s best attack percentage during the decade at .285. The setter in 2017 was fifth in nation with a 0.59 aces per game average, including having a season-high seven aces against Barton. In addition, Drooker had a career-best 232 digs in 2016 — the third-most single-season digs in program history.
Matthew Lychock (2013-16)
Awards and honors: N/A
Lychock remains second in program history with 325 career blocks. He finished back-to-back seasons sixth in the conference averaging more than 0.90 blocks per game. Among Lychock’s top performance featured a career-high 10 blocks against North Greenville during his senior season. The middle attacker also had at least 100 kills in each of his four seasons with the Tornado and is eighth in program history with a .253 career attack percentage.
Eddie Moushikhian (2013-17)
Awards and honors: 2015 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2017 Third-Team All-ConfCarolinas
Moushikhian ended his time at King setting the program record with 964 career kills and is currently second in the school’s record book for this offensive category. The outside attacker had back-to-back seasons in the conference’s top 10 for kills, including averaging a career-best 3.45 kills per game as a sophomore. Moushikhian returned to the court in 2017 after missing the previous season and had double-digit kills in 13 matches.
Jeff Sprayberry (2015-18)
Awards and honors: 2016 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2017 ConfCarolinas Offensive Player of the Year, 2017 All-American Honorable Mention, 2017 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2017 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team, 2018 All-American Honorable Mention, 2018 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 ConfCarolinas Tournament Most Outstanding Player, 2018 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team
Sprayberry is the only player in program history to earn an All-American accolade and in 2017 became the second individual from King to win a ConfCarolinas Player of the Year honor. The outside attacker set the program record with 1,249 career kills — the only player to surpass the 1,000 career kills milestone. In each of his final three seasons, he also was in the conference’s top 10 for kills. Sprayberry during his senior season was in the nation’s top 15 with a career-best 3.73 kills per game average en route to leading the Tornado to a ConfCarolinas championship. He also had a team-high 13 kills against Ohio State in the program’s only NCAA Tournament appearance.
Jon Wheaton (2016-19)
Awards and honors: 2017 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2018 Second-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2019 First-Team All-ConfCarolinas, 2019 ConfCarolinas All-Tournament Team
Wheaton set the program record with 409 career blocks and had back-to-back seasons in the nation’s top 15 for blocks. The middle attacker in his senior season was third in the nation with a 1.28 blocks per game average, including having a match-high 10 blocks against Barton in the ConfCarolinas Tournament finals. Wheaton also hit more than .325 in every season and is second in program history with a .366 career attack percentage. In his junior season, Wheaton was in second in the ConfCarolinas and in the nation’s top 15 with a .354 attack percentage.