Outside attacker Caden Day in the biggest match of the season showed exactly why he was named the ConfCarolinas Offensive Player of the Year.
Day finished with a team-high 16 kills on a .429 attack percentage as Belmont Abbey defeated Mount Olive 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21 in the ConfCarolinas Tournament finals on Sunday in Belmont, North Carolina.
The senior committed a combined two attack errors in the final three games en route to the Crusaders winning their consecutive ConfCarolinas title and a berth to the NCAA Tournament. Day also led all players with six kills in the fourth game, including three kills as part of an 8-3 run midway through the game to give Belmont Abbey a lead it would not relinquish.
Day was one of four Crusaders with double-digit kills.
Opposite Logan Erickson coming off the bench after the second-game loss had a game-high seven kills in the third game and ended the finals with 11 kills on a team-best .588 attack percentage.
Erickson with Belmont Abbey trailing 20-18 in the third game had back-to-back kills to tie the game. In addition, Erickson had back-to-back kills again with the game tied at 22-22 to put the Crusaders at game-point.
Outside attacker Zach Puentes contributed 11 kills, while middle attacker Jibriel Elhaddad had 10 kills on a .412 attack percentage against Mount Olive.
Setter Joseph Morris guided the offense to out-hit Mount Olive .331 to .230 highlighted with the team having a match-best .560 attack percentage in the final game.
Along with the offensive performance, Day led all players with 13 digs.
Mount Olive opposite Matthew Ekberg had a match-high 18 kills. Belmont Abbey, though, limited Ekberg to a negative attack percentage in the final game.
Opposite Kory Grant also had 12 kills in the loss.
This was the second consecutive year that Belmont Abbey defeated Mount Olive in the ConfCarolinas Tournament finals. Mount Olive is now 0-6 in the conference finals since the ConfCarolinas started receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2014.
The Crusaders have won four of the last six ConfCarolinas championships and are the program to win three consecutive ConfCarolinas Tournament titles.