CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The Golden Eagles were back at home this evening as they took on the Pioneers from Tusculum University. Charleston would go on to take the match by a score of 3-0.
 
JUST THE BASICS
LOCATION: Wehrle Innovation Center-- Charleston, W. Va.
SCORE: Charleston: 3 Tusculum: 0
RECORDS: Charleston (1-9, 0-3 EIVA) Tusculum (2-8, 1-1 conf.)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Golden Eagles hoped out to an early lead in the first set as they were able to build a three-point lead over the Pioneers going up 6-3. The Pioneers would build some momentum in their favor though as they rattled off four straight points to pull ahead 7-6 over UC. 
 
Despite being down, UC would pull back ahead off of three straight aces from Freshman Will Kimenhour. He helped the Eagles regain the lead and a large amount of momentum to allow the Golden Eagles to advance to a 20-13 lead over the Pioneers. Charleston would take the set by a score of 25-18. 
 
Tusculum had seven kills on 26 attempts with four attacking errors giving them a .115 hitting percentage. UC had 12 kills on 26 attempts with two attacking errors giving them a .385 hitting percentage. The Pioneers had three aces, no blocks and two service errors in the set while Charleston had six aces, two blocks and six service errors. 
 
Both teams could not seem to get things going at the beginning of the set as each team surrendered three service errors making it a 3-3 score. The teams would continue to trade blows on their way to a tie score of 13-13. Charleston would then pull ahead of the Pioneers 19-15 before the first timeout of the set was called.
 
Before too long, Tusculum was able to bring the game back to ever at a score of 20 all. The score would remain tied at 23-23 before the second timeout of the set was taken. 
 
The Golden Eagles would come through and take the set by a score of 25-23. The Golden Eagles had seven kills on 21 attempts with five attacking errors giving them a .095 hitting percentage while the Pioneers had eight kills on 27 attempts with eight attacking errors giving them a .000 hitting percentage. The Golden Eagles had no aces, two blocks and seven service errors while the Pioneers had two aces, one block and nine service errors. 
 
Charleston would carry their momentum into the third set as they took an early lead of 10-5. Tusculum would venture back to tie the score at 14 all. UC would answer with three straight points to pull back ahead by 17-14 before the first timeout of the set was taken. 
 
UC would then proceed to close out the set by a score of 25-20 and take the match 3-0. Charleston had 11 kills on 23 attempts with five attacking errors netting them a .261 hitting percentage while Tusculum had seven kills on 19 attempts with five attacking errors giving them a .105 hitting percentage. Charleston had no aces, three blocks and eight service errors while the Pioneers had no aces, one block and nine service errors. 
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Junior Max Senica had eight kills, two assists, one block and four digs. Freshman Will Kimenhour had four kills, three aces (season-high), two blocks and two digs. Freshman Ismael Sneedhad a season-high of three blocks. 
 
UP NEXT
Charleston will be back at home next Friday, Feb. 14 as they take on Sacred Heart University in a 7:00 p.m. match.