Stanford Wins Third Straight, Hosts First-Place BYU
Feb. 10, 2014
MPSF Volleyball Release 6
STANFORD (4-4 MPSF/7-4 Overall) recorded a pair of 3-0 wins at home this past weekend, defeating UC San Diego and UC Irvine. Eric Mochalski combined to hit .448 (18-5-29) in five sets of action for the week. Steven Irvin amassed 20 kills at .444, 14 vs. UCI on a .522 clip, while James Shaw set the Cardinal to a .381 team clip in that win. Winners of their last three matches in straight sets, the Cardinal visits Pacific Wednesday, before hosting conference-leading BYU Saturday on Pac-12 Networks.
HAWAII (5-3 MPSF/7-4 Overall) won all six sets at CS Northridge this past weekend and sits tied for fourth in the conference standings. Taylor Averill hit .778 for the series (15-1-18), along with another series-high of nine blocks (1.50 B/S), while Jace Olsen added a .464 (16-3-28) clip. Hawaii out-hit (.349-.174) and out-blocked (20-7) its opponent for the weekend.
UC SANTA BARBARA (5-3 MPSF, 6-3 Overall) held off a furious Pepperdine comeback Saturday in Malibu, to pull off a five-set road win. Austin Kingi had a 10-kill, 10-dig double-double, while Wes Nielson had 18 kills (.361) and nine digs. Evan Licht had a team-high 19 kills. The Gauchos hit .500 (11-2-18) in the decisive fifth set. Jonah Seif recorded his second career triple-double in the USC match, on 48 assists, 12 digs, and 10 blocks, also just the second such feat in the MPSF this year.
PEPPERDINE (6-2 MPSF, 6-2 Overall) Josh Taylor hit .550 (14-3-20) in a three-set home win over No. 1 UCLA last Wednesday. Setter Matt West collected a 33-assist, 10-dig double-double, while guiding a .345 Wave attack. The Waves had 14.5 blocks, nine from Nikola Antonijevic, helping limit the Bruins to a season-low .110 hitting clip. Taylor had a match-high 21 kills vs. UCSB, while Kyle Gerrans went for an 11-kill, 13-dig double-double.
USC (5-4 MPSF/6-4 Overall) fought off three consecutive match points against UCSB on Feb. 5 in coming back for a five-set win. The Trojans were down 24-21 in the fourth, before taking the set 27-25 to force the fifth. Andy Benesh hit .636 (15-1-22) with 10 blocks vs. UCSB, while Micah Christianson also had a double-double vs. UCLA on 35 assists and 10 digs.
UC IRVINE (4-6 MPSF/7-7 Overall) posted a 3-0 road win at Pacific last Friday, hitting .481 for the match (51-12-81). Roberto Frazzoni served five of the eight UCI aces. Scott Kevorken hit .688 (12-1-16) and Jeremy Dejno went for a .611 clip (13-2-18).
UCLA (7-1 MPSF/10-2 Overall) Gonzalo Quiroga recorded an errorless .625 hitting clip (15-0-24), along with six digs and two of the seven team aces in a 3-0 win at USC Sunday. The win pulled the Bruins to within one-half match of the top. Michael Beals set the Bruins to .372 hiting, while Trent Kersten's match-high eight blocks led a 12-3 team advantage.
PACIFIC (1-7 MPSF/2-9 Overall) snapped a nine-match slide this past Saturday with a four-set win over UC San Diego. Thomas Hodges combined for a .378 hitting attack (37-9-74) in that win and the loss to UC Irvine. He had career-highs 23 kills and 11 digs for a double-double in the win, and was named Off The Block/Springbak Inc. National Freshman of the Week.
BYU (8-1 MPSF/8-3 Overall) completed a road swing of three matches in four days last Monday (Feb. 3), winning in straight sets at Cal Baptist. Taylor Sander recorded team-highs of 17 kills (.333), two aces, and four digs. Devin Young and Michael Hatch combined to hit .550 (12-1-20) in the middle.
CAL BAPTIST (2-6 MPSF/3-7 Overall) Rocky DeLyon recorded 10 kills and a match-high three aces in its lone match last week against BYU. The Lancers are at Hawaii for two this week.
CS NORTHRIDGE (3-5 MPSF/3-6 Overall) Greg Faulkner had a series-high 18 kills with a .444 hitting clip against Hawaii.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-10 MPSF/0-11 Overall) Scot Metzger hit .452 at Pacific (17-3-31), and picked up eight digs. Mike Brunsting was just shy of a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs.
LONG BEACH STATE (5-3 MPSF/6-3 Overall) visits UCLA and UCSB this week. Taylor Crabb led two road victories at Stanford and Pacific (Jan. 31-Feb. 1), recording a 2014 MPSF single-match high 29 kills (.324) in Palo Alto. The 49ers fought off a two-set deficit en route to a win, the first team in the MPSF to do so this year.