Beach edges No. 1 Waves in Defensive Show
Jan. 27, 2014
MPSF Volleyball Release 4
LONG BEACH STATE (2-2 MPSF/3-2 Overall) put on a defensive clinic in coming back to defeat No. 1 Pepperdine in five sets last Friday. The 49ers tied a 2014 MPSF-high 22 blocks, also a team best since 2007. Jeff Ornee posted a career-high 13 blocks, sharing the conference season-high, while Andrew Sato collected an MPSF No. 2 season rank of 19 digs. Taylor Crabb recorded 24 kills and 13 digs, his second double-double of the year, to go along with five blocks. Ian Satterfield added a career-high 19 kills, along with six blocks.
PEPPERDINE (4-1 MPSF, 4-1 Overall) came out on each side of a pair of five-set conference road matches last week, winning in Northridge and falling in Long Beach. Kyle Gerrans recorded a 15-kill, 10-dig double-double in the win, while MPSF block-average leader Nikola Antonijevic had 12 stuffs. Pepperdine totaled 21.5 blocks as a team, just one-half block shy of the conference season-high. Further, The Waves dug a rally-scoring program record 71 balls in the loss, also the most in the conference since the 2012 season.
HAWAII (3-1 MPSF/5-2 Overall) won a pair of 3-0 home contests over UC San Diego this past weekend, and moved up to fourth in the latest MPSF standings. Middle blocker Taylor Averill hit .708 for the series (18-1-24), and recorded a season-high seven blocks in the first match. Sinisa Zarkovic recorded a .371 clip over the six sets (20-7-35), and a series-high total 25 points. The Warriors hit .478 on night two (41-8-69), the third best single-match team clip in the MPSF this year, and .416 for the series.
BYU (6-0 MPSF/6-2 Overall) extended its win streak to six with conference home victories over Stanford, 3-1, and Pacific, 3-0. Taylor Sander hit .491 for the week (30-4-53). He had 18 kills vs. Stanford and was 12 for an errorless 17 (.706) vs. Pacific. The Cougars hit the road this week, traveling to Pepperdine and USC.
UCLA (3-0 MPSF/6-1 Overall) takes a six-match win streak into the week, hosting UC Irvine Monday (Jan. 27) on Pac-12 Networks, before visiting UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The Bruins, one of two MPSF unbeatens entering the final week of January, won in three at home over UCSB last Tuesday (Jan. 21). Robart Page recorded a match-high 15 kills (.393) and Jackson Bantle had match-highs of three aces and nine digs. UCLA won its first 18 sideout opportunities of the match, covering all of set one and the early points of set two.
CS NORTHRIDGE (2-2 MPSF/2-3 Overall) came back to win in three over USC after the narrow loss to No. 1 Pepperdine. Damani Lenore posted a career-high 28 kills and two aces off the bench against the Waves, before a 13-kill (.345) outing against the Trojans. He was named Off the Block/Springbak National Freshman of the Week for his efforts.
USC (3-2 MPSF/4-2 Overall) split a pair of three-set matches last week, winning at Long Beach State and falling at CS Northridge. The Trojans hit .360 in Long Beach, and were led by Lucas Yoder's 19 kills at .552. Cristian Rivera added 17 kills at .353, and setter Micah Christenson recorded a double-double with 46 assists and 17 digs. USC hosts Cal Baptist and BYU this week. Wednesday's match (Jan. 29) vs. the Lancers is televised live by Pac-12 Networks at 8 pm.
UC IRVINE (2-3 MPSF/5-4 Overall) fought off three separate match points in the fifth set for a conference win at UCSB, down 14-12 and 15-14, en route to a 17-15 outcome. Zack La Cavera served a career-high six aces, second most in the conference this year and tied for second in UCI history. He posted 16 kills (.333), five coming in the decisive set.
STANFORD (1-3 MPSF/4-3 Overall) is in the MPSF win column after a straight-set outcome at Cal Baptist last Saturday. Brian Cook hit .523 (13-1-23) and Denny Falls was seven for an errorless nine (.778). The Cardinal clicked all night offensively, finishing with a .408 team clip (43-12-76). Cook hit .440 for the week (26-4-50).
CAL BAPTIST (2-4 MPSF/2-5 Overall) defeated Pacific at home in four sets last Thursday, led by Rocky DeLyon (.476) and Jonathan Tuttle's 14 kills apiece. Tuttle also served three aces. Kristopher Johnson hit .471 (10-2-17), and leads the MPSF in hitting percentage entering the week at .533 (66-10-105).
UC SANTA BARBARA (2-2 MPSF, 3-2 Overall) hosts Hawaii for two this week (Jan. 30-31). The Gauchos came up short at UCLA and at home to UCI last week. Austin KIngi had 17 kills and Jake Staahl had nine blocks vs. UCI.
PACIFIC (0-4 MPSF/1-6 Overall) dropped a pair of MPSF road matches, in four at Cal Baptist and three at BYU. Matthew Dorn was 9 for an errorless 16 (.563) at BYU.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-6 MPSF/0-7 Overall) Nick Iorfino had 12 kills (.304) and seven digs in the second match at Hawaii. He tied for a series-best 20 kills (3.33 K/S).