Winston-Salem, NC – With the regular season coming to an end, the Regent University Men's Volleyball team began a two-day road trip as they faced familiar foe Carolina University. This was the second meeting this year between the two teams and the Royals were focused on the task at hand. To keep their historic season moving in the right direction, they needed to pick up the road win over the Bruins and that is exactly what they did.
Graduate Student Colby Yawn (Chesapeake, VA) began the first set with a service ace and a few points later fellow Graduate Student Aaron Campbell (Virginia Beach, VA) and Freshman Preston Nemeti (Burke, VA) delivered kills to keep the momentum going. An ace by Campbell and then a kill from Yawn put Regent out in front, as Nemeti was able to step up to the service line for an ace, giving the Royals a two-point advantage. The score would remain close, but Campbell continued to score points at the net and suddenly Regent was ahead 16-12. Kills by Yawn and Junior Keith Larkin (Snohomish, WA) kept the advantage at four points and then Campbell would close the set out with an ace, 25-20.
Carolina scored the first two points of the second set, but a kill by Junior Aubrey Flora (Chesapeake, VA) put the Royals on the board. Junior Lucas Whitman (Suffolk, VA) would follow that up with a kill of his own and then a kill by Campbell gave Regent the one-point lead. However, the Bruins eventually were able to regain the advantage and suddenly they were ahead 12-8. Campbell would cut into the deficit with two straight kills and then a kill from Yawn tied the score. Regent would go out in front after two Bruins' errors and that was followed by another kill from Campbell and then one from Freshman Joshua Bissell (Dillsburg, PA). At the service line both Campbell and Larkin recorded aces and after Carolina pulled to within a point, Campbell came through with a kill for the set win, 25-23.
A Whitman ace and a Larkin kill gave the Royals the early lead as the third set got underway. Campbell also got in on the scoring with a kill, but the Bruins were able to tie the score at 4-4. However, Yawn would step to the net for a point, which was followed by a Campbell ace and a kill from Graduate Student Jaxson Gray (Chesapeake, VA). Yawn and Gray would do it again, both delivering kills and then a Yawn ace increased the lead to five points. Carolina eventually began to rally and suddenly the score was 14-12. Bissell was able to stop the run with a kill, but the Bruins continued to score to go out in front and win the set 25-20.
Carolina started the fourth set with five straight points, but Regent returned the favor with five straight of their own. This score continued to go back-in-forth, but the Royals kept their composure and took a two-point lead after a Yawn kill and ace. It would increase to five points after a kill by Larkin and then kills from Campbell and Yawn secured the win 3-1 (25-20).
Campbell finished with 11 kills, 9 digs and 5 aces, while Yawn dished out 16 assists to go along with his 7 kills and 3 aces. Flora also added 10 assists and Nemeti broke the school record with 7 total blocks.
The Royals will be back in action on Wednesday, April 9th as they travel to the mountains of Virginia to face Bluefield College. First serve is scheduled for 4:00pm.
