The preseason favorites to win the ConfCarolinas lived up to the expectations.
Belmont Abbey clinched at least a share of the ConfCarolinas regular season title and the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament as it defeated North Greenville 23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 on Wednesday.
Outside attacker Zach Puentes led all players in the road victory with both five aces and 14 kills. Puentes had all five aces in the final two games, including having two aces during a 9-0 run in the third game.
The two-time defending ConfCarolinas champions had four players finish with double-digit kills and out-hit North Greenville .211 to .110.
Along with Puentes, middle attacker Jibriel Elhaddad had 11 kills and zero errors on a team-best .688 attack percentage. Elhaddad led the Crusaders with eight combined kills in the first two games highlighted with back-to-back kills to close out the second game win.
Opposite TJ Neville added 12 kills on a .450 attack percentage, while outside attacker Caden Day added 10 kills to help the Crusaders extend their winning streak to seven matches.
North Greenville after hitting .300 in its opening-game win was held to less than .150 attack percentage in each of the final three games.
Outside attacker Logan Keothavy in the loss had a team-high nine kills. Pin-hitters Thomas Roper and Yoriano Velez Vega also each had eight kills.
This is the second time in its program history that the Crusaders have won the ConfCarolinas regular season championship.