FIve Teams Knotted With Two Losses
Feb. 16, 2015 MPSF Volleyball Release 7
UC IRVINE (8-2 MPSF/13-3 Overall) posted three MPSF victories last week to get into a three-way tie for first-place with 12 remaining in the conference. The Anteaters won at CSUN in four (Feb. 11), then defeated Stanford (Feb. 13) and Pepperdine (Feb. 14) in three and five, respectively. Tamir Hershko accumulated 48 kills for the week (4.00 K/S), hitting .355. Jason Agopian hit .516 (19-3-31) with 17 blocks (1.42 B/S), and Zack La Cavera fired nine aces (0.75 A/S) over the three wins. Hershko leads the MPSF in points per set (4.47) and ranks second in kill average (3.80). Michael Saeta's conference-high 10.95 assists per set has guided the MPSF's most prolific offense in the first-round at .354.
BYU (8-2 MPSF/9-3 Overall) avenged its first night loss at USC to win in four in the second of the two-match series (Feb. 13). The Cougars accumulated 15.5 blocks, led by Michael Hatch with seven, and six apiece by Jake Langlois and Matt Underwood. Enter night one, BYU totaled 35.5 blocks in the series (3.94 B/S). Robbie Sutton picked up a match-high 13 digs in the win. Langlois recorded 15 kills with Underwood right behind at 14, while the former also had 23 kills, eight blocks, and eight digs in the loss. Joe Grosh shares the top blocking average in the MPSF (1.30 B/S), while the Cougars average a high of 3.17 as a team. BYU shares the top spot in the standings with USC and UCI through 10 contests.
USC (8-2 MPSF/9-2 Overall) stormed back from a two-set hole to win in five the first night against BYU (Feb. 12). Alex Slaught recorded a career-high 24 kills, followed by 15 (.480) from Larry Tuileta off the bench. Slaught added career-highs of 12 digs and four aces, while Robert Feathers also served four aces. USC held an 11-0 ace advantage in its dramatic win. The Trojans snapped a seven-match slide to BYU in the process, while playing their third straight five-set match in extra points. Slaught went on for a 19-kill night in the loss, totaling 43 for the series. (Tied at the top with BYU and UCI, USC heads to UCSB (Feb. 18) and UCLA (Feb. 22) this week. Feathers hits a conference second-best .462.
HAWAII (6-2 MPSF/9-3 Overall) swept six consecutive sets in a two-match series at Cal Baptist (Feb. 11-13). Taylor Averill accumulated series-highs of .433 hitting (17-4-30), 14 blocks (2.33 B/S), and 26.5 points. Brooke Sedore totaled 22 kills while hitting .357. Two-time player of the week Averill enters the week at the top of the MPSF with a .469 hitting clip as well as owning a share of the top spot with 1.30 blocks per set. The Warriors are one of five teams sitting with a conference-best two losses.
PEPPERDINE (7-2 MPSF/11-2 Overall) split on the road last week, winning at UC San Diego in three. Scott Rhein and JJ Mosolf recorded 10 kills apiece. Pepperdine sits one-half match back in the win column. Matt Tarantino leads the MPSF in service aces per set (0.65 A/S). The Waves are allowing opponents to hit just .180 on the year, tops across the MPSF (.197 is second-best). Pepperdine also hits .341 as a team, and records 2.90 blocks per set, both ranking second in the conference.
LONG BEACH STATE (5-4 MPSF/8-4 Overall) won 3-0 at CSUN (Feb. 13), taking each of the first two sets in extra points. Libero Ryan Windisch picked up a career-high 18 digs in just three sets (6.00 D/S), and continues to be the MPSF leader in that category (3.03 D/S). Cody Martin and John La Rusch each put away 13 kills at .333, while Dan Glamack added 10 at .389. Taylor Gregory had seven blocks and shares a conference-best 1.30 per set this year.
UC SANTA BARBARA (4-5 MPSF/8-5 Overall) won a straight-set match at UCLA (Feb. 13). The Gauchos were lights out in the middle, errorless on 20 swings with a .700 clip, courtesy of Jake Staahl and Ryan Hardy. Kevin Donohue recorded a match-high 17 kills (.295), and continues to lead the MPSF in kill average (3.98 K/S).
STANFORD (3-6 MPSF/4-9 Overall) earned a split on the road, winning at UC San Diego in four sets (Feb. 14) to snap a five-match slide. Madison Hayden collected a career-high 21 kills (.319), along with two aces, five blocks, and six digs. Conrad Kaminski, who hits .374 for the season, hit .550 (12-1-20) with two aces in the win. Spencer Haly recorded eight kills and seven blocks, while Evan Enriques picked up a match-high 14 digs.
CSUN (3-6 MPSF/5-8 Overall) Sam Holt tallied match-highs of 17 kills against UC Irvine and 14 kills against Long Beach State. Holt is the Matador kill leader, also ranking sixth in the MPSF with 3.61 kills per set.
UCLA (2-5 MPSF/6-5 Overall) Christian Hessenauer and JT Hatch tallied 10 kills apiece, with the former adding six blocks in the UCSB match. The Bruins are ranked second in the MPSF in team aces (1.74 A/S).
CAL BAPTIST (1-10 MPSF/3-11 Overall) Caleb Miller had seven blocks the second night vs. Hawaii (Feb. 13). Enrique Garcia has racked up 58 blocks on the year (1.26 B/S), tied for the second-most in the MPSF.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-9 MPSF/1-12 Overall) Tanner Syftestad recorded 16 kills, four aces, and five blocks vs. Stanford. Mathew Schnitzer had six blocks and Tanner Howard 12 digs. Tyler Bird is third in the conference in dig average (2.39 D/S).