Charleston, W.Va. – The Charleston men's volleyball team opened their 2023 season with a sweep over the Belmont Abbey College Crusaders on Friday evening and a sweep over the Saints of D'Youville College on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Basics:
Location: Wehrle Innovation Center
Score: UC 3, BAC 0
Records: UC 1-0 (0-0 EIVA), Belmont Abbey 1-4 (0-0 CC)
 
How it Happened:
The Golden Eagles took the court for the first time this season in a Friday evening match against the Crusaders of Belmont Abbey College. From the first point of the game off a Belmont Abbey service error, to the last point of the match, the energy was high in the Wehrle Innovation Center and the crowd was in for a treat.
 
From the first serve, Charleston was in control of the set. Both teams traded points back and forth at the start of the set, but Charleston really began to pull away with the lead after several kills by three different Golden Eagles, making the set score 12-7 UC. From there Belmont made several crucial attack errors letting Charleston jump out to a seven-point lead. Both teams went on to trade several points back and forth again until Charleston finally took the set by a score of 25-17. In the first set, Charleston had a .480 hitting percentage compared to Belmont Abbey's .111 hitting percentage.
 
The Crusaders came out in set two looking for a different outcome, increasing their hitting percentage to .286 in comparison to Charleston's who's dropped to .222. Although Charleston seemed to struggle more with the Crusaders in the second set, they continued to battle each point taking the set by a final score of 25-23.
 
Now leading the match two sets to none, the Golden Eagles were firing on all cylinders at the start of set three. Charleston jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the set, and never looked back for the remainder of the match. The Golden Eagles pulled away with the third set 25-16, completing the sweep over Belmont Abbey.
 
Lachlan Bray lead the Golden Eagle offense with 14 kills in the match. Luuk Hoge Bavel was 13 for 16 with an impressive hitting percentage of .814.
 
The Basics:
Location: Wehrle Innovation Center
Score: UC 3, DC 0
Records: UC 2-0 (0-0 EIVA), D'Youville 1-2 (0-0 NEC)
 
How it Happened:
 Charleston, who entered the Sunday afternoon match 1-0 on the season, jumped out the gate against D'Youville 2-0 thanks to an Ismael Sneed kill and block. From there both teams traded side outs until Charleston went on a four-point run powered by three Jake Vorburger kills. The Golden Eagles continued to pull away from the Saints taking the first set 25-18.  
 
Starting the second set, Charleston and D'Youville went point for point until the Saints took their first lead of the match at 9-8. Several Charleston errors allowed the Saints to improve their lead to 15-10 forcing a Golden Eagle timeout. Coming out of the break, the Golden Eagles began to slowly chip away, and the deficit began to shrink until Charleston finally evened play at seventeen all. Points once again were traded back and forth until Garret Schnitker had three straight kills giving the Golden Eagles the 22-20 lead. Charleston went on to take the set by a score of 25-23, now leading the match two sets to none.
 
The third set was much of the same, both teams trading side outs for the entire set. Charleston held on to the momentum from the first two sets and were able to take the third set by two points with the final score 25-23.
 
The Golden Eagles completed the sweep with the final set win, picking up their second victory of the 2023 season. Charleston's offense was headed by Luuk Hoge Bavel who went 13-23 hitting .522. Jake Vorburger also hit an impressive .615 in the match.
 
Up Next:
Charleston will travel to King University for a tournament where they will face Lincoln Memorial, Quincy University, and King University.