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Outside attacker Tobi Azeez delivered his best performance of the season to secure a historic first for Mount Olive.
Azeez finished with both a match-high 22 kills on a .462 attack percentage and five aces as Mount Olive defeated Erskine 25-20, 25-22, 21-25, 25-14 on Friday to clinch the ConfCarolinas regular season championship and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
This is the first conference regular season title for the Trojans since the ConfCarolinas started receiving an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2014. In addition, Mount Olive (11-3, 10-2 ConfCarolinas) as the No. 1 seed will receive bye to the conference tournament semifinals.
While the benefits of being the No. 1 seed this season does not include home court advantage because the ConfCarolinas Tournament semifinals and finals are at a predetermined site, the No. 1 seed has won every ConfCarolinas Tournament title since 2014.
Azeez had at least five kills in each game against Erskine (9-12, 4-7 ConfCarolinas), including a game-high seven kills in the 11-point fourth-game win to secure the home victory.
The sophomore entered the weekend second in the conference and sixth in the nation with a 4.22 kills per game average. This also was the fifth time this season that Azeez had at least 20 kills.
Along with his offensive performance and a season high in aces versus Erskine, Azeez led all players defensively with a season-high 15 digs.
Setter Jarrod Ferguson guided the Mount Olive offense to out-hit Erskine .336 to .286, including the Trojans having a match-best .500 attack percentage in the final game.
Freshman outside attacker Dominic Hagerty had 11 kills while hitting .320 against the Fleet. Opposite Iyanu Adebisi also contributed eight kills and one error on a .368 attack percentage and had eight digs.
Erskine outside attacker Edgerrin Austin in the loss finished with a match-high 22 kills.
The Fleet with this loss drops into seventh place in the ConfCarolinas. The team will continue its North Carolina road trip as it plays Barton on Saturday.