MPSF Race Stays Hot in Second Round
Feb. 29, 2016 MPSF Men's Volleyball Release 8
STANFORD (12-2 MPSF/14-2 Overall) made it seven straight MPSF wins with straight-set decisions at UC San Diego and UC Irvine this past week. The Cardinal remains in a first-place tie with eight to play, beginning at Pepperdine Sunday (Mar. 6) and then a home match against the Waves the following Saturday (Mar. 12). Kevin Rakestraw hit a combined .593 (19-3-27) with 10 blocks over the two road wins. Fellow middle Conrad Kaminski was 13 for an errorless 20 (.650) on the road swing. Evan Enriques moved into an MPSF first-place tie in dig average (2.65 d/s).
LONG BEACH STATE (12-2 MPSF/15-2 Overall) stays tied atop the MPSF standings with eight to play in the conference, following 3-1 and 3-0 wins at Hawaii. TJ DeFalco posted a double-double in both matches, going for 17 kills (.343) and 10 digs on the first night, followed by 11 kills and a career-high 15 digs on the second. He added five aces and 12 blocks in the series. DeFalco is in the top-three in the conference in points per set (first, 5.05), kills per set (second, 4.28), and digs per set (third, 2.28). Taylor Gregory (.565) and Bryce Yould (.540) rank first and third respectively in the MPSF in hitting. The 49ers allow opponents to hit .198, a conference-best.
BYU (10-2 MPSF/14-2 Overall) has swept 10-straight matches after a pair of 3-0 home wins over CSUN (Feb. 26-27). The Cougars have not dropped a set since January 23 at Long Beach State, also the last time they lost a match. BYU finished the series with blistering team totals of 11 aces (1.83 sa/s), 27 blocks (4.83 b/s), and a .464 hitting percentage. Brenden Sander combined for a .632 weekend hitting clip (26-2-38), including a career-high .667 in the second match (15-1-21). Ben Patch is the MPSF kill leader with 4.30 per set. BYU has also taken over the conference lead in team hitting at .357.
UCLA (11-3 MPSF/15-3 Overall) picked up two wins last week to stay one back in the conference race with eight to play. The Bruins won 3-0 at home over Cal Baptist (Feb. 24) and 3-1 at USC (Feb. 27). JT Hatch hit .354 (22-5-48) for the week, along with back-to back career serving nights, totaling seven aces in as many sets. The Bruins have served an MPSF-high 132 aces on the year (1.91 sa/s). UCLA takes on UCSB in a two-match home and road this week Wednesday and Friday (Mar. 2-4).
UC SANTA BARBARA (9-5 MPSF/13-6 Overall) Parker Boehle accumulated a 19 digs (3.17 d/s) through straight-set home wins over USC and Cal Baptist. Henri Cherry was an errorless .778 (7-0-9) vs. the Lancers, and easily sits atop the conference in hitting within MPSF matches at .564 (53-9-78). Austin Kingi had a match-high 12 kills vs. CBU (.455). Jacob Delson had a big night vs. USC, recording 18 kills on a.500 clip, seven digs, and four blocks.
PEPPERDINE (6-5 MPSF/7-5 Overall) had three players in double-digit kills in the five-set comeback win at UC Irvine (Feb. 27). David Wieczorek led with 18 kills (.378), along with seven digs. Matt Tarantino added 17 kills (.306), followed by Colby Harriman's 13 kills and five blocks. The Waves are the MPSF leader in blocks per set (3.30), led by Tommy Carmody's conference-best 1.79 average. Pepperdine travels to UC San Diego and hosts Stanford this week.
CSUN (5-7 MPSF/10-7 Overall) CJ Suarez collected a two-match series-high 15 digs (2.50 d/s) at BYU. Dimitar Kalchev added two aces in Provo to reach 37 for the year, and an MPSF-best 0.65 per set. CSUN heads east to face Mount Olive and Penn State this weekend in University Park, PA.
HAWAII (5-7 MPSF/10-7 Overall) Stijn van Tilburg totaled 25 kills (.258) in the two-match series vs. No. 1 Long Beach State. The Warriors stay home this week for two against BYU (Mar. 2-4). Siki Zarkovic is third in the MPSF in kill average (3.88 k/s), while Kolby Kanetake has picked up a conference-high 164 digs (2.65 d/s).
CAL BAPTIST (3-11 MPSF/8-11 Overall) Rocky DeLyon had a team-high nine kills (.467), while Enrique Garcia was seven for an errorless nine (.778) at UCSB. The Lancers hit .304 in the match, Garcia remains one of four MPSF players hitting over .500 on the year (.502; 124-12-223)
UC IRVINE (3-11 MPSF/4-12 Overall) Kyle Russell posted career-highs of 24 kills and seven block assists in the five-set home match against Pepperdine. Marty Ross added a career-high eight block assists, and Jason Agopian chipped in a 10-kill, seven-block evening. The Anteaters play a two-match series with UC San Diego this week.
USC (3-11 MPSF/3-13 Overall) Lucas Yoder hit .516 (17-1-31) with 17 kills as a match-high, along with six digs against UCLA. Brooks Varni shared a match-high 11 digs at UCSB. USC plays a two-match series vs. Cal Baptist this week.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-13 MPSF/4-14 Overall) Nathan Thalken was the Triton kill leader vs. Stanford, on seven kills at .312 hitting. The Tritons have three matches this week, hosting Pepperdine, followed by a two-match series with UC Irvine.