Day 1 of Men's Volleyball Tournament in the Books

KINGSPORT, Tenn. - The top seeds all moved on to the semifinal round at the 2024 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Men's Volleyball Tournament on Thursday.

No. 2 seed Webber International opened the day with a 3-0 sweep of No. 7 seed Truett McConnell, and third-seeded Life followed with a 3-0 sweep of No. 6 seed Warner. Fourth-seeded St. Andrews moved on but had a time of dispatching No. 5 seed Bluefield in a 3-1 battle.

The tournament is being held at the Tribe Athletic Complex in Kingsport, Tenn.

Webber set a tournament record with 18 aces in defeating Truett McConnell 25-18, 25, 10, 25-15. Carson Barnes had seven kills and four aces, while Kai Desauguste logged four aces. Thoralf Schmelzer helped out with six kills and three aces.

Life nearly broke that record in the next match as it had 17 aces as a team in winning 25-22, 25-17, 25-13. Jose Llaneza nearly had a double-double with nine kills and seven aces, collecting the tournament record for most aces in a match by an individual. Carlos Pinto logged 30 assists for Life.

It was a real slugfest in the final match of the day as St. Andrews pulled out the 25-20, 30-28, 26-28, 25-10 win. The teams combined for 109 kills with Bluefield's Kyle Pietrzak registered 24 kills. Benedict Somes notched 49 assists for the Rams. Deonte Brewer recorded 15 kills for St. Andrews while Hazem Abdelghafar and Khushpreet Sandhu had 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Dakota Hotaling posted a double-double with 48 assists and 10 digs.

No. 1 seed Reinhardt will face St. Andrews in the first semifinal match on Friday at 3 p.m. with Life and Webber squaring off at 6 p.m.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 18
Game 1 - No. 2 Webber (16-1) def. No. 7 Truett McConnell (6-20), 3-0 (box)
Game 2 - No. 3 Life (22-10) def. No. 6 Warner (5-17), 3-0 (box)
Game 3 - No. 4 St. Andrews (22-9) vs. No. 5 Bluefield (9-14), 3-1 (box)

Friday, April 19
Game 4 - No. 1 Reinhardt (26-1) vs. No. 4 St. Andrews (22-9), 3 pm
Game 5 - No. 2 Webber (16-1) vs. No. 3 Life (22-10), 6 pm

Saturday, April 20
Game 6 - Championship Game - Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 1 pm

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students each day. Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here.

All matches will be streamed live and can be viewed for free by clicking here.

For live stats, click here.