COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College men's volleyball team picked up their first conference victory, defeating LeMoyne-Owen College 3-0 on Friday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.
 
Benedict won the match 25-18, 25-21, 25-9 to improve to 5-7 overall and 1-4 in the SIAC. LeMoyne-Owen falls to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the SIAC in their first season of competition.
 
Camron Petillo led the Tigers with 12 kills, while Zion Beckford added 10 kills. Kendersley Marcellin had 27 assists and Jared Brown had a team-high seven digs.
 
Benedict had a 12-6 lead in the first set before LeMoyne-Owen scored the next five points to make it 12-11. The Tigers scored the next four points to increase their lead. Benedict had a 22-18 lead and then closed out the set with three straight points, getting the set-winning point on an ace by Marcellin.
 
The Magicians took a 13-7 lead in the second set, and later led 17-11. Benedict then scored 10 of the next 11 points to take the lead, and closed out the set scoring four of the final five points as Hakan Godoy scored a kill for the final point.
 
The Tigers jumped out to a big 14-3 lead in the third set and cruised to the easy victory.
 
Benedict and LeMoyne-Owen will play again at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the HRC Arena.