Four On Top With Two Losses
Feb. 15, 2016 MPSF Volleyball Release 6
STANFORD (8-2 MPSF/10-2 Overall) won a pair of MPSF home contests over Hawaii, 3-0 and 3-1, and moved into a three-way tie for first-place atop the MPSF with 12 to play. Stanford has already reached its overall win total (10) from all of last year. Conrad Kaminski recorded series-highs of .571 hitting (20-4-28) along with 14 blocks (2.00 b/s). Madison Hayden totaled a series-high 24 kills, while hitting .476. With a .364 team clip in the UH series, the Cardinal continues to lead the conference in hitting (.338). UCSB visits Stanford Wednesday (Feb. 17), followed by a home battle at the top with UCLA Sunday (Feb. 21) at 11 am on Pac-12 Networks.
LONG BEACH STATE (8-2 MPSF/11-2 Overall) moved into a three-way tie at the top of the MPSF standings with a pair of road wins last week, 3-1 at Cal Baptist and 3-0 at USC. The 49ers tallied 15.5 blocks in Riverside, led by Taylor Gregory's nine. MPSF kill and point leader TJ DeFalco accumulated 17 kills (.324) and eight digs in that win, before a 15-kill (.345) night at USC. Long Beach State hit .356 in the straight-set win. The 49ers lead the MPSF in opponent hitting (.197), while Bryce Yould (.559) and Gregory (.557) are one-two in the conference for individual hitting.
UC IRVINE (3-7 MPSF/4-8 Overall) bounced back quickly after the UCSB match to stun No. 2 UCLA in five sets (Feb. 11). The win was UCI's first this year in a true road match. The 20-18 set five outcome was the longest fifth set in the MPSF in over one full calendar year, dating back to the Feb. 4-6, 2015 USC-UH series (both 20-18 set 5 matches). Kyle Russell put away career-highs of 21 kills (.325) and seven blocks, along with three aces and a season-high 11 digs. Marty Ross hit .600 with career-highs of seven kills and eight blocks, and a third senior, Jason Agopian, had a career-night with 13 kills at .409.
BYU (6-2 MPSF/10-2 Overall) Tim Dobbert hit .500 (14-2-24) and Price Jarman recorded nine blocks in a straight-set win at Princeton (Feb. 12). The Cougars hit .492 with just four hitting errors, while holding a decisive 14.5-0 blocking advantage. Night two of the road trip saw another Cougar sweep, their sixth in a row. BYU posted another 14.5 team blocks, led by Dobbert and Michael Hatch with nine each. BYU takes its 18-set win streak to Cal Baptist this week (Feb. 19-20).
UCLA (8-2 MPSF/12-2 Overall) won 3-0 at home over UC San Diego (Feb. 13), following its first home loss of the year two nights earlier. The Bruins hit .521 vs. the Tritons, a 2016 conference-high amongst all MPSF matches, and third-highest overall. Jake Arnitz (.625) and JT Hatch (.500) led the effort. Hagen Smith picked up a double-double (19 assists/11 digs). Trips to Pepperdine (Feb. 19) and Stanford (Feb. 21) are next on the schedule. UCLA has a conference-high 104 aces (1.89 sa/s).
UC SANTA BARBARA (6-4 MPSF/10-5 Overall) hit .440 against UC San Diego (Feb. 12) and .297 against UC Irvine (Feb. 10), resulting in a pair of straight-set home wins. The Gauchos held the Anteaters to .081 hitting, backed by 11 blocks. Austin Kingi hit .450 in that win (10-1-20), before Matt Marsh went .440 (15-4-25) vs. UCSD and totaled five aces for the week.
CAL BAPTIST (3-7 MPSF/8-7 Overall) split two MPSF home matches last week, dropping a four-setter vs. No. 1 Long Beach State and bouncing back to edge CSUN in five. Roy Powell accumulated 10 kills and 10 digs for a double-double vs. the 49ers. The Lancers totaled 19 blocks vs. the Matadors, eight by Enrique Garcia, and seven each by Powell and Jackson Burge. Garcia hit .632 (13-1-19) in the win.
CSUN (3-5 MPSF/8-5 Overall) was involved in a pair of five-set MPSF matches last week, winning at USC before the narrow loss at Cal Baptist. Dimitar Kalchev had a match-high 20 kills (.382) in the win, while Jakub Ciesla had a double-double on 17 kills and 10 digs, to go along with three aces. In Riverside, Ciesla posted a career-high 27 kills with a .315 clip, and collected eight digs. Josiah Byers added 11 kills (.444) and nine blocks.
HAWAII (5-4 MPSF/10-4 Overall) Kupono Fey led the Warriors in kills (23), hitting percentage (.341), digs (12; 1.71 dps), and points (26.5; 3.79 pps) in the Stanford series. Kolby Kanetake is the MPSF dig leader (2.60 d/s). UH stays in California for two at USC (Feb. 15-16), as the Warriors won in five on night one.
USC (2-9 MPSF/2-11 Overall) Ryan Moss and Alex Slaught each had a 10-kill/10-dig double-double vs. CSUN (Feb. 10). Lucas Yoder recorded 17 kills in that match.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-10 MPSF/3-11 Overall) Kirill Rudenko tallied a Triton weekend-high 12 kills on .611 hitting at UCSB (Feb. 12). Tanner Syftestad hit .300 (8-2-20) the following night at UCLA.
PEPPERDINE (5-3 MPSF/6-3 Overall) hosts UCSB (Feb. 17) and UCLA (Feb. 19) after a bye week. Tommy Carmody (1.84 B/S) is the MPSF block leader, while the Waves average a conference-best 3.52 blocks per set.