Card, Beach Hold Serve to Stay in First
Feb. 22, 2016 MPSF Volleyball Release 7
STANFORD (10-2 MPSF/12-2 Overall) stayed unbeaten on The Farm with a 3-0 win over UCSB (Feb. 19) and 3-1 Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21) result over No. 3 UCLA. The Card continues to roll offensively, raising its MPSF season-best hitting percentage to .351 after a blistering .444 week (91-19-162). Gabriel Vega and Madison Hayden each accumulated 26 kills for the week (3.71 k/s), with the former hitting .488. Stanford heads to UC San Diego (Feb. 25) and UC Irvine (Feb. 26) this week.
LONG BEACH STATE (10-2 MPSF/13-2 Overall) stays atop the MPSF standings with 10 to play in the conference, following a pair of home wins over UC San Diego and UC Irvine. The 49ers fired off a 2016 MPSF-high 12 service aces against the Tritons, three by Bryce Yould, who finished the week with five aces and hit .609 (17-3-23) in the middle. Yould is No. 2 in the MPSF in hitting (.568), only to teammate Taylor Gregory's .569. Josh Tuaniga is the conference assist leader (11.18 a/s). The 49ers as a team are at the top in opponent hitting (.200). Long Beach State travels to Hawaii for two this week (Feb. 24-26).
BYU (8-2 MPSF/12-2 Overall) has swept eight-straight matches after a pair of 3-0 road outcomes at Cal Baptist (Feb. 19-20). Jake Langlois hit .514 in the series (23-4-37), and collected four aces and a series-high 12 digs (2.00 d/s). The Cougars, who last dropped a set on Jan. 23 at Long Beach State, host CSUN for two this weekend on BYUtv (Feb. 26-27). They are one of three teams still with two conference losses, and enter the week just one back in the win column. Ben Patch is the MPSF kills per set leader (4.32).
CSUN (5-5 MPSF/10-5 Overall) picked up two MPSF home wins to even its conference record, 3-1 over UC Irvine and 3-0 over UC San Diego. Josiah Byers hit a collective .724 (22-1-29) with 10 blocks in the middle. The Matadors are headed to BYU for two this week. Dimitar Kalchev is the MPSF aces per set leader (0.69), serving 35 on the year.
UCLA (9-3 MPSF/13-3 Overall) split two on the road, with its win coming in straight sets at Pepperdine (Feb. 19). Micah Ma'a tallied a double-double in the win (11 kills, 21 assists), as well as in the loss at Stanford (11 kills, 26 assists), and hit .341 for the week (22-7-44). Jake Arnitz hit .556 at Pepperdine with a match-high 16 kills. The Bruins enter the week one match out of first-place, and host Cal Baptist Wednesday (Feb. 24) and visit USC Saturday (Feb. 27) on Pac-12 Networks.
UC SANTA BARBARA (7-5 MPSF/11-6 Overall) pulled out a five-set road win at Pepperdine (Feb. 17), as Austin Kingi recorded a 17-kill (.351), 12-dig double-double. Jacob Delson added 15 kills and Henri Cherry hit .500 (12-2-20) with six blocks. Parker Boehle tied a 2016 MPSF single-match high 18 digs. The Gauchos host USC and Cal Baptist this week.
USC (3-9 MPSF/3-11 Overall) fought off four separate match points, including three in succession, in pulling out a five-set home win over No. 5 Hawaii (Feb. 16). Lucas Yoder hit .347 (37-12-72) in the series, and recorded a double-double in the win with 21 kills and a career-high 11 digs. USC travels to UCSB Wednesday (Feb. 24) and host UCLA Saturday (Feb. 27).
HAWAII (5-5 MPSF/10-5 Overall) is coming off a split at USC, as it brings in MPSF leader and top-ranked Long Beach State this week (Feb. 24 & 26). Kolby Kanetake is the MPSF dig leader (148, 2.69 dps).
UC SAN DIEGO (0-12 MPSF/4-13 Overall) picked up a non-conference home win in straight sets over Holy Names (Feb. 20). Kirill Rudenko was nine for an errorless 12 (.750). The Tritons hit .432 and served nine aces, with each stat a season-high.
CAL BAPTIST (3-9 MPSF/8-9 Overall) hits the road to face UCLA and UCSB this week. Jackson Burge hit a series-high .526 (12-2-19) and Rocky DeLyon shared a two-day high of five aces against BYU (Feb. 19-20). Enrique Garcia ranks third in the MPSF with a .507 hitting clip on the year (113-11-201).
UC IRVINE (3-9 MPSF/4-10 Overall) hosts Stanford and Pepperdine this weekend (Feb. 26-27). Kyle Russell had a match-high 16 kills at No. 1 Long Beach State (Feb. 19), following a 19-kill, three-ace, five-block, and five-dig stat line at CSUN (Feb. 17).
PEPPERDINE (5-5 MPSF/6-5 Overall) Matt Tarantino had a double-double on 21 kills (.356) and 10 digs against UCSB. The Waves are the MPSF leader in blocks per set (3.46), led by Tommy Carmody's conference-best 1.79 average. Pepperdine travels to UC Irvine Saturday (Feb. 27) to close the first half of their schedule.