WILSON, NC – The Merrimack College men's volleyball team won its first match in program history on Saturday afternoon after beat Barton College, 3-1. Miles Dewhirst, Logan Whitaker, and Xander Thesz, and Matthew Motes all had 11 kills for the Warriors in the victory. Zyshonne Lang ranked second in kills for Merrimack with 10 on the afternoon.

The Basics
Score: Merrimack 3 Barton 1
Records: Merrimack (1-3) | Barton (0-4)
Location: Wilson Gymnasium

Rapid Recap

• A kill by Dewhirst got the scoring going for the Warriors. Carson Bashford had a kill to put Merrimack up four later on in the set. The Bulldogs came back to cut the lead to one. The Warriors battled going up by five, after a Motes kill. An ace by Dewhirst put Merrimack up 15-10. Barton came back to get the lead to two. After a couple different rallies for the Warriors, the Bulldogs added three straight points to get it down to one. After a timeout, Merrimack scored the five of the last eight points to take a 1-0 lead.
• The Warriors found themselves down 10-7 early on in the second set. Whitaker had a kill to cut the lead to one. Barton then scored five points to go up by six. Whitaker had the kill that stopped the run. Thesz had a kill to make it a six-point game. With the Bulldogs needing one more point Whitaker had a kill, but could not start a comeback. Merrimack dropped the second set.
• Whitaker had a kill to tie the set at eight. Barton then went up by three. Lang had a kill that stopped he run. After going down by four late in the third set, Whitaker had a kill to cut it down to three. After battling back, Dewhirst had a kill and Motes had an ace to tie the game at 21. The Warriors ended the game on a three-point run, all three points were kills by Thesz. Merrimack now had a 2-1 lead.
• With momentum on their side the Warriors started the fourth set up 2-0 after kills from Motes and Lang. After the Bulldogs cut the lead to two, Merrimack added two point to go up by four. A kill by Lang later on in the set gave the Warriors a three-point advantage. Both Dewhirst and Bashford had kills to put Merrimack up four. Barton tied the set at 18 after going on a four-point run. The Warriors finished the set on a three-point run to win their first match in program history.

Top Performers // Notes

• Dewhirst and Kyle Standage tied for a team-high 15 digs.
• Bashford had a career-high 48 assists.
• The Warriors had nine blocks, compared to the Bulldogs who had three.

Up Next
Merrimack stays in North Carolina to take on Queens University of Charlotte on Sunday. The match is set to start at 2 p.m.