NE Nashville News

Cumberland men’s volleyball honors their seniors with a 3-0 sweep over Midway University. The Phoenix played fantastic offense in their final home appearance of the season with a .364 team attack percentage. 

It was another solid match for senior Luka Ilic who led all players with 11 kills. In his last performance on his home court, Christian Lester played explosively through all three sets. He totaled nine kills and a game-high 12 digs. Senior Jordan Pierce played a huge role in the team’s success once again, totaling 30 assists, five kills, and six digs. 

Jonathan McGuyer led the Midway attackers with eight kills while also adding five digs. Setter Daniel Cogo added 21 assists and four digs in the effort.

The Phoenix faced a 3-0 deficit early in the first but found their rhythm to take the lead at 7-6 on a huge swing from Ilic. The teams split points through the middle stages but a three point run for the Phoenix- during which Sturzoiu nailed two aces- forced Midway to burn a timeout. 

The break would prove to be ineffective for the Eagles as CU had all the momentum and energy backed by a sizable crowd in the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena. Cumberland grabbed a 25-19 victory with a .455 team attack percentage. 

The Eagles came out of the gates strong to start the second set for a 7-4 lead. The Phoenix struggled offensively in the first few points as Midway tightened up their block.

Lester connected on a pair of kills and an assisted block to give Cumberland the spark they needed to take their first lead of the set at 13-12.

The Phoenix faced a tied match at 20-20 when Pierce was set up on the right side and slammed it cross court to earn the advantage. Rogers would earn the next point with a high speed swing of his own to send Midway into a break. 

It was a beneficial timeout for the Eagles as they came out of it with a defensive answer and 4-0 run, giving them a 24-23 lead. Rogers completely shifted the momentum back in Cumberland’s favor with a slam out of the middle, to which Lester followed up with a pair of kills himself for a 26-24 victory.

In set three, the Phoenix got off to a 5-1 start with the help of four errors on the Eagles’ side of the net. The lead stayed consistent for the remainder of the set as Midway struggled to find an offensive groove. 

Cumberland used every bit of momentum in their favor as they were tight in every aspect of play. In a final effort to recover the game, Midway gathered in a timeout at 20-10. The break didn’t slow down the Phoenix in the slightest as they would go on to grab a dominant 25-12 win.

Cumberland will be in Marietta, Ga. for their last two matches of the regular season in a Life University tri-match. They will first see Reinhardt at 1:30, followed by a 3:30 match against host Life.

Original source can be found here