BYU Posts 10th Win; UCI Beats Top-Five
Feb. 17, 2014
MPSF Volleyball Release 7
BYU (10-1 MPSF/10-3 Overall) posted two victories in Northern California this past week, 3-1 at Pacific and 3-2 at Stanford, and remains atop the MPSF standings by 1.5 matches. Taylor Sander slammed a season-high 27 kills at Stanford, hitting .417, to go along with two aces, four blocks, and six digs. Josue Rivera led the Cougars in Stockton, on a career-high .579 attack (13-2-19), along with three of his six aces for the week. BYU next competes Feb. 28 at home vs. USC.
UC IRVINE (6-6 MPSF/9-7 Overall) evened up its MPSF record with a pair of home wins over the top-five. Against USC, the Anteaters fought back from 13-10 down in set five to win the last five points of the match, as Kyle Russell served both of his aces in that span. Jeremy Dejno (16K/10D) and Connor Hughes (11K/13D) each had a double-double that night. UCI followed up with a straight-set decision over Pepperdine. Zack La Cavera had 17 kills in both wins, hitting .448 vs. the Waves. Roberto Frazzoni guided a .402 team offense with 41 assists (13.67 A/S).
UC SANTA BARBARA (7-3 MPSF, 8-3 Overall) won a pair of home matches, 3-0 over CS Northridge and 3-1 over Long Beach State, and sits tied for third as it wraps up the first-half of the conference schedule this week. Austin Kingi accumulated 20 kills (.378) and 12 digs vs. the 49ers, while Evan Licht hit .406 (17-4-32) and had eight digs. Kingi hit .474 vs. CSN (12-3-19).
LONG BEACH STATE (6-4 MPSF/7-4 Overall) Taylor Crabb equaled his own 2014 MPSF single-match high of 29 kills at UCLA, as the 49ers finished on an 8-2 fourth set run to claim a 3-1 win. He added a match-high 16 digs and five blocks. Crabb's 29-kill and 33-point night are both four-set MPSF-bests in the 25-point era, which started in 2011. In four-set matches, his kills were the most since Feb. 20, 2010 when Stanford's Brad Lawson also had 29; and his points were the most since Apr. 30, 2009, when Pepperdine's Paul Carroll tallied 35 in the MPSF Semifinals. Crabb added 16 kills and eight digs at UCSB.
STANFORD (5-5 MPSF/8-5 Overall) Steven Irvin tied his career-high six aces last Wednesday at Pacific, also tied for the second most in the conference this year, as the Cardinal claimed a fourth straight win. Stanford served 12 aces for the match. Brian Cook tallied 17 kills with a .343 clip, along with eight digs, three blocks, and two aces. Irvin added 11 kills at .556. Cook went on for a 20-kill (.349), nine-dig match vs. BYU, while Irvin compiled a 17-kill (.406), 13-dig double-double.
HAWAII (7-3 MPSF/9-4 Overall) Taylor Averill accumulated 17 blocks (2.12 B/S), including a career-high 12 last Wednesday, and hit .720 (19-1-25) over the two 3-1 home wins over Cal Baptist. Each of those series-high totals were nearly twice as much as the closest competitor. Brooke Sedore collected 26 kills (.317) and Nick West served four of his five series aces in the second match. The Warriors out-hit their opponent .352-.178 for the weekend.
PEPPERDINE (7-3 MPSF, 7-3 Overall) Kyle Gerrans served six aces at UC San Diego, tied for second-most in the conference this year, as the Waves split two on the road last week. Gerrans added 11 kills (.421) and eight digs.
UCLA (8-2 MPSF/11-3 Overall) split at home, bouncing back from the Long Beach State match to win in three over CS Northridge to remain in second-place nearing the midway point. Robart Page had 21 kills at .400, along with eight digs in the win, following a 20-kill (.375), 10-dig, three-ace outing by Gonzalo Quiroga in the loss.
USC (6-5 MPSF/7-5 Overall) hit .487 (43-5-78) with 13.5 blocks in the straight-set win at UC San Diego. Michael Mullahey was setting, collecting 35 assists and seven digs. Tanner Jansen hit .600 (13-1-20) and Tommy Leonard was an errorless .588 (10-0-17) with six blocks and two aces. Henry Cassiday had 18 digs at UCI, three away from his 2014 MPSF-High.
PACIFIC (1-9 MPSF/2-11 Overall) Christian Franceschi and Javier Caceres recorded match-highs of 17 kills and 10 digs, respectively, against BYU. Peter Edwards added 10 kills (.304) and eight digs. Franceschi had 15 kills at .406 vs. Stanford.
CAL BAPTIST (2-8 MPSF/3-9 Overall) Johannes Brink tallied a series-high 27 kills (3.38 K/S) over the two matches at Hawaii. Kristopher Johnson added 20 kills at .368, along with nine blocks (1.12 B/S).
CS NORTHRIDGE (3-7 MPSF/3-8 Overall) Greg Faulkner recorded a two-match middle attack of .419 (17-4-31) at UCSB and UCLA.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-12 MPSF/0-13 Overall) Mike Brunsting recorded a match-high 17 kills with a .483 hitting clip, and served two aces, against Pepperdine. Elliott Shaw picked up a match-high 10 digs.