Lebanon, Tenn.-- Cumberland fought through all three sets but ultimately fell to Warner University at home. The Phoenix came within touching distance of taking each set but were unable to shake the RV Royals.

Kix Ferrell, Christian Lester, and Tyler Sturzoiu each recorded six kills for CU. Caleb Ginnings picked up a game-high of eight digs while Jordan Pierce led his offense with 24 assists. 

Jermey Torres led all players with 13 kills for the Royals and Matheus Ferreira-Collares added a high of 33 assists. The Warner attackers recorded a .286 overall attack percentage, while Cumberland ended with a .149%. The Royals had five more blocks than the Phoenix with a total of ten.

The Phoenix went on an early scoring spurt with a 6-2 run- during which Kaden Keuhler and Ferrell tooled a pair of kills off of the Warner blockers- to establish the only significant lead of set one by either team. 

Back-to-back Phoenix errors gave the Royals an opening to even up the score at 12-12. The teams traded points from then in a tight battle with tied scores at 22-22 and 23-23. 

The Royals were able to take the set with a kill and a block from Torres on the outside at 25-23. Cumberland swung well in the set despite falling short with a .261 team attack percentage compared to the Royals’ .174 percent.

Warner improved their attacking in set two, committing only three errors for a .417 team percentage. Cumberland struggled to get anything going until late in the set as the Royals maintained their lead through all of their 25 points.

The Royals carried their energy into set two to find an early lead from a 5-0 run during which CU committed three attack errors at the net. The Royals were hitting a perfect 1.000 percent, nailing 6-of-6 attack attempts for a 13-6 score to send Cumberland into a timeout. 

Out of the break, the Phoenix broke into Warner’s momentum to go on their first real run of the set and put away three back-to-back points. Cumberland’s first kill of the set came at the 15-10 scoreboard when Lester swiped a ball off of his blocker’s fingers, igniting some much needed energy in the Phoenix. 

An unstoppable kill from Kuehler out of the middle sent CU on a four point scoring run to bring it within three at 20-17. The Phoenix fought hard to turn the advantage around, even breaking it down to two points at 20-18, but the Royals ultimately handled the set 25-20.

The teams went point-for-point up until the middle stages of set two when Warner made the first run of four points to establish a lead. 

Sturzoiu put away a huge ball from the outside to spark a three point scoring run that brought the score within two points for the Phoenix. The Royals responded with a 3-0 run of their own to spread their lead back out to five at 15-10, forcing CU to recollect in a timeout.

The break once again worked in favor of the Phoenix as Sturzoiu picked up his sixth kill and Cumberland secured the next two points for a 16-14 score.

The Phoenix fought hard to force a fourth set as Pierce picked up point 20 with a fast swing for a 21-23 score, but the Royals were able to grab the next two points to secure their 3-0 sweep. 

Cumberland will be back in action at the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena next Thursday at 7 pm where they will face Rio Grande University.