This Week: UCLA at Hawaii; Stanford at LBSU
Feb. 1, 2016 MPSF Volleyball Release 4
UCLA (6-0 MPSF/10-0 Overall) is 10-0 for the first time since 1998 (16-0), after winning three home matches this past week. The Bruins won 3-0 over Princeton, followed by a five-set MPSF thriller against Long Beach State and four-setter vs. CSUN. UCLA fought back from two sets down vs. the 49ers and from one down vs. the Matadors. Jake Arnitz hit .425 (38-7-73) for the week while producing career-highs in kills (21 vs. CSUN), points (23.5 vs. CSUN) and digs (13 vs. LBSU). Micah Ma'a fired off a 2016 conference-high seven aces in the CSUN match. UCLA leads the nation in team aces (77) through the first month of play.
HAWAII (3-1 MPSF/8-1 Overall) won all six sets in a two-match home series with UC San Diego (Jan. 29-31). Siki Zarkovic hit .547 for the series (33-4-53), while averaging two digs per set. In Sunday's second match, Zarkovic went for a career-high .594 (21-2-32), also marking his ninth-straight double-digit kill match to start the year. 7-0 in Honolulu this year, UH brings in No, 1 UCLA for two (Feb. 5-6). UH is No. 1 in the MPSF and No. 3 in the nation in team hitting (.359).
STANFORD (5-1 MPSF/7-1 Overall) posted two MPSF road victories last week, 3-0 at Cal Baptist (Jan. 29) and 3-1 at USC (Jan. 31). Setter James Shaw directed the offense, which hit .379 on the weekend. He averaged 10.86 assists per set, while combining for an errorless .929 (13-0-14) when swinging. Conrad Kaminski tallied 10 kills and a match-high eight blocks at USC. The Cardinal held the Trojans to eight points in set four, USC's fewest since the start of the rally scoring era (2001). Stanford is second in the MPSF in team hitting (.342), led by Kevin Rakestraw (.543) and Conrad Kaminski (.521).
LONG BEACH STATE (4-2 MPSF/7-2 Overall) TJ DeFalco slammed a 2016 MPSF-high 27 kills (.327), while picking up 14 digs to complete a double-double, as the 49ers pulled out a 15-13 set five win at UCSB (Jan. 29). Setter Josh Tuaniga dished a conference season-high 63 assists in guiding a .301 team offense. DeFalco also had a double-double at UCLA with 21 kills and 14 digs, as did Kyle Ensing with 11 kills and 16 digs. The 49ers lead the MPSF in opponent hitting (.189), while middles Taylor Gregory (.638) and Bryce Yould (.600) lead the conference in hitting.
BYU (4-2 MPSF/6-2 Overall) won all six sets in a two-match series sweep at UC Irvine (Jan. 29-30). The Cougars hit .403 in the first win and .400 in the second, and posted better than a .300 clip in five of the six sets. The effort was led by Ben Patch, going 16 for an errorless 24 (.667) on night one, and 17 for 30 with three errors (.467) the following afternoon. Jake Langlois hit .400 (10-2-20) with six blocks in the second win.
USC (1-5 MPSF/1-7 Overall) Jeff Nygaard picked up his first head coaching victory last Tuesday (Jan. 26) in a five-set home win over No. 8 Pepperdine. Jon Rivera had a career-best 23 kills (.302) along with five digs and four blocks. He added a 13-kill, five-dig match vs. No. 6 Stanford (Jan. 31).
UC SANTA BARBARA (4-2 MPSF/8-3 Overall) Matt Marsh recorded 13 kills at .500 in the Gauchos' straight-set home win to give CSUN its first loss of the year (Jan. 27). Ryan Hardy totaled 10 blocks. Marsh (14 kills, 12 digs), Austin Kingi (11 kills, 10 digs), and Jonah Seif (40 assists, 15 digs) each had double-doubles in the five-set loss to Long Beach State.
PEPPERDINE (4-2 MPSF/5-2 Overall) NCAA block leader Tommy Carmody had a conference season-high 12 (four solo) at USC (Jan. 26). He enters the week with 50 total blocks on the year (2.00 B/S). The Waves hit .411 in the straight-set win at Cal Baptist (Jan. 30), guided by Soren Dion-Kindem. Matt Tarantino (.625) and David Wieczorek (.450) had 11 kills each.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-4 MPSF/3-7 Overall) came back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Princeton in five at home (Jan. 27). Ian Colbert achieved career-bests in both kills and digs for a second straight contest, finishing with 19 and 11 for a second successive double-double, while hitting .447. Colbert put down another 19 kills in Sunday's loss at No. 5 Hawai'i.
CSUN (2-2 MPSF/7-2 Overall) Dimitar Kalchev totaled a 2016 MPSF-high 30.5 points in four sets last Friday (Jan. 29) at No. 1 UCLA. He had 25 kills (second most in the conference this year), while hitting .311 and served five aces that night. Kalchev is the aces per set leader in the MPSF, and tied at the top of the NCAA list (0.82).
UC IRVINE (1-5 MPSF/2-6 Overall) Jason Agopian hit .636 (8-1-11) in the second match vs. BYU. Kyle Russell totaled 27 kills in the series (4.50 K/S) and served three aces.
CAL BAPTIST (0-6 MPSF/3-6 Overall) Rocky DeLyon tallied a match-high 12 kills (.360) along with six digs in the Pepperdine match. He also put away a match-high 11 kills (.444), with an ace and five digs vs. Stanford. DeLyon finished the week with a .395 hitting clip (23-6-43).