Hawaii Heads to Stanford, USC
Feb. 8, 2016 MPSF Volleyball Release 5
HAWAII (4-2 MPSF/9-2 Overall) gave No. 1 UCLA its first loss of the year in the first of the two-match series in Honolulu (Feb. 5). The 3-1 Warrior win was led by Stijn van Tilburg's 21-kill/eight-dig effort, while hitting .381. Siki Zarkovic totaled 35 kills in the nine-set series, including a match-high 20 in the loss. He had 15 kills (.375), nine digs, and two aces in the win. Kolby Kanetake leads the MPSF in digs with 110 (2.89 D/S). UH hits the road for four, at Stanford (Feb. 12-13) and USC (Feb. 15-16).
LONG BEACH STATE (6-2 MPSF/9-2 Overall) pulls to within one match of first-place with two home wins, defeating Stanford in four sets and Pepperdine in three. Each set over the Waves was decided by two points, as the 49ers hit .404 led by Taylor Gregory's 10 for an errorless 15 (.667). The 49ers lead the conference in opponent hitting (.204), while three individuals are at the top of the individual rankings. TJ DeFalco leads the MPSF in kills per set (4.46) and points per set (5.12), Taylor Gregory ranks No. 1 in hitting percentage (.618; 88-4-136), and Josh Tuaniga leads in assists per set (11.36).
BYU (6-2 MPSF/8-2 Overall) swept through six sets in Provo this past weekend over UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 5-6). The Cougars enter the week on a 12-set win streak. Price Jarman tallied a series-high 13 blocks (2.17 B/S), while hitting .556 (11-1-18). Ben Patch totaled 27 kills (4.50 K/S), hitting .370 (along with a series-high 14 digs), followed by Jake Langlois with 24 kills (.413) and Brenden Sander's 22 kills (.436) for the weekend. The Cougars held a decisive .401-.201 hitting advantage through the two wins.
CAL BAPTIST (2-6 MPSF/7-6 Overall) won two MPSF road matches last week, both in four sets at UC Irvine and UC San Diego. Enrique Garcia delivered a 15-kill night at UCI, with 19 errorless swings (.789), good for the fifth-best single-match hitting clip in Lancer history. He added a match-high eight block assists. Garcia would stay hot all week, including wins over Concordia and Holy Names, finishing with four errorless matches on a total of 45 for 68 (.662). Roy Powell had a double-double vs. the Tritons on 17 kills (.448) and 10 digs.
UCLA (7-1 MPSF/11-1 Overall) snapped Hawaii's 17-match home win streak, avenging the first night's loss in five sets Saturday (Feb. 6). Micah Ma'a recorded an 18-kill (.500)/23-assist double-double, along with six blocks, while UCLA hit .374 in the comeback win. The Bruins were also errorless in set five, on seven for 11 swinging (.636). Mitch Stahl totaled 11 blocks, as the Bruins held a 19.5-4.0 block advantage.
STANFORD (6-2 MPSF/8-2 Overall) won a straight set MPSF road match at CSUN (Feb. 6), and stays within one match from the top of the standings. Hawaii, another two-loss team in the MPSF, visits Stanford for two this week (Feb. 12-13). Madison Hayden accumulated a .438 hitting clip (27-6-48) through two road matches last week at CSUN and Long Beach State. Evan Enriques tied a 2016 single match MPSF-high 18 digs against the 49ers. The Cardinal enters the week No. 1 in the conference in overall team hitting (.333).
PEPPERDINE (5-3 MPSF/6-3 Overall) picked up a 3-0 road win at CSUN (Feb. 3). David Wieczorek (.455) at CSUN and Tommy Carmody (.733) at Long Beach State each recorded 12 kills. Carmody (1.84 B/S) is the MPSF block leader. The Waves average a conference-best 3.52 blocks per set.
UC IRVINE (2-6 MPSF/3-7 Overall) snapped a five-match losing streak by winning a four-set home match over USC (Feb. 5). The Anteaters were hot most of the night offensively, finishing with a .457 team attack (60-12-105). Four players reached double-digit kills, led by Karl Apfelbach (.500) and Kyle Russell (.393) with 16 apiece, followed by Tucker Pikula (.524) with 12 and Jason Agopian (.625) with 11. Marty Ross recorded a match-high seven blocks.
USC (2-6 MPSF/2-8 Overall) Jeff Nygaard picked up his first road victory as head coach (Feb. 6) in a four-set outcome at UC San Diego. Andy Benesh hit .533 (9-1-15) and Brooks Varni picked up a match-high 14 digs. The Trojans will be on Pac-12 Networks against CSUN Wednesday (Feb. 10), as well as the second of the two-match series vs. Hawaii (Feb. 16).
UC SANTA BARBARA (4-4 MPSF/8-5 Overall) Ryan Hardy hit .611 (12-1-18) with seven blocks through the six sets at BYU (Feb. 5-6).
CSUN (2-4 MPSF/7-4 Overall) Eric Chance was six for an errorless 8 with three blocks vs. Stanford. Josiah Byers was six for an errorless nine (.667) with five blocks vs. Pepperdine. Dimitar Kalchev leads the MPSF in ace average (0.74 SA/S).
UC SAN DIEGO (0-8 MPSF/3-9 Overall) Ian Colbert had a 17-klll, 10-dig double-double vs. Cal Baptist, while Alec Flowers hit .562 (12-3-16). UCSD hit .326 in that match, their highest in an MPSF match since late 2014 (.336 vs. Stanford--4/12/14). The Tritons had 13 blocks vs. USC, a total reached just one other time since 2013 (14 at Stanford, 3/13/15).