Charleston, W.Va. – The Charleston Men's Volleyball team continues their hot streak in two shutout victories this past weekend. The 7-0 start to the season is the best in program history, including not dropping a set thus far.
 
The Basics:
Location: Wehrle Innovation Center
Score: UC  3, TM 0
Records: UC 6-0 (0-0 EIVA), Thomas More 0-1
 
How it Happened:
The Golden Eagles entered the Friday night match 5-0 looking to take care of business once again while the Saints of Thomas More University were playing in their first match of the season.
 
In set one, Charleston jumped out to ahead of the Saints by taking an early 5-2 lead after back-to-back kills by Luuk Hoge Bavel. Thomas More went on to score the next two points, but after a Golden Eagle side out, Ismael Sneed brought Charleston to an 8-4 lead with two service aces. Several points were traded for the next few plays but gained a six-point lead, 16-10, after a few Thomas More errors. Charleston dominated the rest of the set, taking it 25-13 with Thomas More only scoring three points from Golden Eagle service errors. In the set, Charleston had a .333 hitting percentage compared to Thomas More's .04%.
 
In the second set, both teams traded side outs, keeping the match very close. When the set was tied at 13-13 Charleston ramped up their energy and went on a three-point run, taking the set to 16-13. The remainder of the set was once again a lot of trading points back and forth but Charleston now with the slight edge went on to take set two 25-21. Although Thomas More improved their hitting percentage to .188%, Charleston improved as well hitting .455%.
 
Set three looked much different for Charleston as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the Saints off the serve of Paul Stommel. From there Charleston continued to dominate the set, forcing a Thomas More timeout at 11-3 UC. The Saints managed to get the set back withing 4, 12-8 UC, but Charleston once again went on a run taking the set to 19-11 after some great plays from Dennis Morgan. Charleston went on to close out the set 25-15, picking up their sixth straight sweep of the year.
 
The Golden Eagles had fifteen players touch the court on the three-set match. Brandon Horn-Bostel lead Charleston with seven. Korben Phillips helped the Golden Eagle defense with six blocks in the match.
 
The Basics:
Location: Wehrle Innovation Center
Score: UC  3, TU 0
Records: UC 7-0 (0-0 EIVA), Tusculum 3-7
 
How it Happened:
Charleston opened Saturday's match in complete control over the Pioneers of Tusculum University. Setting the tone from the first point of the match with a double block, the Golden Eagles were in the driver's seat for set one. Charleston jumped out in front of the Pioneers early leading 8-3. Charleston continued to climb, leading by eleven at one point in the set, and eventually winning it 25-15. The Golden Eagles had 14 kills with a .522 hitting percentage.
 
In set two, the Pioneers kept the set much closer with both teams trading side outs several times. With the set at 12-10 UC, the Golden Eagles went on a four-point run, pulling away from the Pioneers 16-10. Tusculum's Deklan Wingo answered back with a kill and a block, but Charleston went on to outscore the Pioneers 9-3 after that, eventually taking the second set by a score of 25-15 once again. Charleston went 13-25 in the set with a .36 hitting percentage while Tusculum had a hitting percentage of 0%.
 
Tusculum now down two sets kicked things into high gear in set three. The teams went point for point, seeing the score tied at six different points. The turning point in the set came for the Golden Eagles when they went on a three-point run with three different players recording a kill. Charleston took the 16-12 lead and while the Pioneers battled back, Charleston had just enough of a lead to stay in control. Charleston took set three 25-19 over Tusculum, accumulating their seventh sweep of the season.
 
Charleston had 40 kills in the three-set match, 15 of which belonged to Lachlan Bray. Diego Villafane had 29 assists and two aces in the match.
 
Up Next:
Charleston will host Erskine College on Saturday February 4^th at 2PM.