GLENSIDE, Pa. – In its first-ever match, Randolph-Macon Men's Volleyball took Misericordia to five sets, but the Cougars took the match in the Arcadia University Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

The Basics

Score: Misericordia 3, Randolph-Macon 2 (25-15, 22-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-12)

Location/Venue: Glenside, Pa./Alumni Gymnasium (Kuch Center)

Records: Misericordia (1-2), Randolph-Macon (0-1)

How It Happened

• In the first set, Misericordia tallied the first four points before Randolph-Macon got a side out via a service error. R-MC scored three of the next four points, but Misericordia then ripped off four of their own points to go ahead 9-3 and forced an R-MC timeout. R-MC was never able to get into rhythm as Misericordia took the frame 25-15.
• Randolph-Macon repaid the favor early in the second set. The Yellow Jackets scored four of the first five points and after ties at 4-4 and 5-5, R-MC rattled off four straight points to go ahead 9-5. The teams began to trade scores until Misericordia caught a run, midway through the frame to tie the set at 17 before taking the lead at 20-17. Randolph-Macon finished the set on an 8-2 run however and scored the set victory 25-22.
• After the Cougars jumped ahead to a small lead, R-MC powered back to cut the advantage to just two.  Misericordia ripped off another four points before a kill by R-MC's freshman Owen Jungers (Richmond, Va. / J.R. Tucker) set off a 9-4 run that tied the match at 13-13. From there, the teams traded scores until late in the frame. That was where freshmen Lenny Sampson, Jr. (Chesapeake, Va. / Indian River) and Scotty Carter (Virginia Beach, Va. / Frank W. Cox) combined for four kills to edge out Misericordia 25-23.
• With the competitive tone of the match looming, Randolph-Macon again separated itself early in the fourth frame. After a MU service error, junior Lee Olenyik (Mechanicsville, Va. / Hanover) hit a pair of service aces and Carter added a kill to give R-MC a 5-2 lead. But the Cougars responded with an 8-2 run of their own to go ahead 10-7. The teams fought to 11-11 and 12-12 ties before MU hit another run of 7-2 to go ahead 19-14. They used that lead to head to victory at 25-16.
• With a deciding fifth set needed, MU had the momentum in its favor early. The Cougars advanced to a 7-2 lead in the fifth set, forcing a Randolph-Macon timeout. The timeout led to R-MC hitting a 7-4 run to cut the lead to 9-10. R-MC tallied ties at 11-11 and 12-12 but Misericordia scored the final three points to win 15-12.

Inside The Numbers

• Carter led the team with 11 kills, followed by Olenyik with seven kills. Jungers, Sampson and freshman Kyle Alberici (Cicero, N.Y. / Cicero North Syracuse) each threw in three kills.
• Jungers had 23 assists.
• Sampson led the team in blocks with four, while Alberici tallied three and Junger and Olenyik each had two. Carter had one solo block as well.
• Olenyik led the team with 15 digs with Jungers adding ten. Olenyik also had three service aces while Sampson and freshman Arjay Harris (Chesapeake, Va. / Hickory) added two each.
• Misericordia hits .417 and .240 in the first and fifth sets respectively, hitting .175 for the match. R-MC hit 0.50 and .185 in the second and third sets respectively, but hit -.037 for the match.

Up Next

Randolph-Macon will face host Arcadia at 11AM tomorrow and will face John Jay at 1PM to conclude its inaugural weekend.