USC Pulls Off Upset; Four Open MPSF This Week
Jan. 16, 2017 MPSF Volleyball Release 2
USC (1-1 MPSF/2-3 Overall) picked up the season's first major upset, defeating No. 3 Long Beach State in four sets at home (Jan. 11). The unranked Trojans hit .358 as a team, and had a 28-kill, .404 hitting night from Lucas Yoder. Andy Benesh added a 12-kill, .526 match in the middle. Yoder stayed hot in hitting .562 with a match-high 19 kills in a three-set home loss to CSUN (Jan. 14), and finished the week at .461 (47-12-76). USC visits UCSB Wednesday (Jan. 18), before heading to rival UCLA Friday (Jan. 20) for an 8 pm showdown on Pac-12 Networks.
UCLA (2-0 MPSF/4-1 Overall) swept through its MPSF and home openers against UC Irvine (Jan. 12) and UC San Diego (Jan. 14). The Bruins hit .395 vs. UCI and were led by Daenan Gyimah's .737 clip on 14 kills. UCLA elevated its team hitting to .557 in the next outing vs. the Tritons, with JT Hatch going nine for an errorless 13 (.692) and picking up a match-high seven digs. UCLA tied a school record for most aces in a set, serving seven in the second frame vs. UCSD. Micah Ma'a served three aces in each win, and hit an errorless and career-high .800 (8-0-10) with seven digs vs. UCI. Cal Baptist (Jan. 18) and USC (Jan. 20) visit Westwood this week.
CSUN (1-1 MPSF/6-1 Overall) was edged at Cal Baptist in five sets (Jan. 11), before bouncing back in the next outing with a 3-0 result at USC (Jan. 14). The Matadors, who set a school hitting record earlier this season and lead the conference offensively (.444), hit .557 in the Galen Center. Jakub Ciesla was an errorless .625 (15-0-24). Arvis Greene added 12 kills (.450), followed by Dimitar Kalchev's 10 kills (.692). Kalchev also served four aces, giving him an MPSF-high 20 on the year entering this week's two-match MPSF home series against BYU (Jan. 19-20).
UC IRVINE (2-1 MPSF/5-1 Overall) Michael Saeta was 11 for an errorless 14 (.786), served five aces, and dug seven balls in a five-set comeback win at UCSB (Jan. 11). Tamir Hershko recorded 14 kills (.321) in just three sets of action, and Matthew Younggren hit an errorless .636 with seven kills. UCI visits UC San Diego Friday (Jan. 20) and hosts Hawaii Saturday (Jan. 21). Scott Stadick is the MPSF blocking leader (1.33 B/S), while Dillon Hoffman digs a conference-high 2.95 balls per set.
UC SANTA BARBARA (1-1 MPSF/4-1 Overall) split two MPSF home matches last week, bouncing back with a 3-0 win over UC San Diego after being edged by UC Irvine in five. Jacob Delson had nine kills and Henri Cherry five blocks in the win. UCSB stays home this week to face USC (Jan. 18) and Cal Baptist (Jan. 20). Cherry begins the week leading the MPSF with a .640 hitting clip (34-2-50).
LONG BEACH STATE (1-1 MPSF/4-1 Overall) split a two-match road swing, falling in four sets at USC (Jan. 11) before winning in four at Cal Baptist (Jan. 13). TJ DeFalco posted his seventh-career double-double with a team-best 12 kills and 12 digs in Riverside, while Kyle Ensing notched a career-high seven block assists. Josh Tuaniga dishes an MPSF-high 11.36 assists per week, with the 49ers hitting .348 as a team (MPSF No. 3).
CAL BAPTIST (1-1 MPSF/2-3 Overall) picked up an MPSF win over visiting CSUN, 3-2 (Jan. 11), coming back to win the final two sets. Rohit Paul, Luis Palos and Kevin Vaz all posted 11 kills, while Enrique de Diego Garcia chipped in 10 more. The Lancers head to UCLA Wednesday and UCSB Friday. Vaz enters the week with 1.06 blocks per set (MPSF T-7th).
BYU (0-0 MPSF/4-1 Overall) won all nine sets in its first three home matches this past week, sweeping McKendree twice (Jan. 12 & 14), along with Concordia in between (Jan. 13). Ben Patch hit .400 (25-7-45) over five sets of action (5.00 K/S), including a match-high 16 kills vs. the Eagles. Tim Dobbert tallied 14 kills in the second win over the Bearcats. BYU travels to CSUN for a two-match series to open conference play this week (Jan. 19-20). Patch enters the week on top of the MPSF with 5.58 kills per set.
HAWAII (0-0 MPSF/5-0 Overall) won all six sets in the two-match home sweep of Grand Canyon (Jan. 11-13). The Warriors ran their non-conference win streak to 17-straight dating back to 2014. In the second win, Stijn van Tilburg tallied 17 kills with a season-high .536 clip. That effort followed a 15-kill, .333 hitting night one performance. He is No. 3 in the MPSF in kill average (4.43 K/S). MPSF opens this week, as Hawaii travels to Long Beach State for a two-match series (Jan. 18 & 20), before finishing the road trip at UC Irvine Saturday (Jan. 21). The Warriors the conference in blocking (2.75 B/S) and opponent hitting (.131).
PEPPERDINE (0-0 MPSF/2-1 Overall) Michael Wexter slammed a career-high 22 kills (.405), including the match-winner, and picked up a career-best eight digs in a 3-2 win at Loyola-Chicago (Jan. 13). The next night in Romeoville, IL, David Wieczorek had a career-high 26 kills, while hitting .457, in a four-set loss at Lewis. The Waves host Stanford Friday (Jan. 20) in the MPSF opener for both teams. Wieczorek averages 4.18 kills per set (MPSF 4th).
STANFORD (0-0 MPSF/3-2 Overall) dropped a pair of straight-set home matches to No. 1 Ohio State (Jan. 13-14), the second of which all three sets were decided by two points. Jordan Ewert tallied a career-high 15 kills in the first match (.323), before an 11-kill, eight-dig effort on night two. The Cardinal travels to Pepperdine Friday (Jan. 20) in the MPSF opener for both teams. Stanford is serving an MPSF-best 2.19 aces per set.
UC SAN DIEGO (0-3 MPSF/0-4 Overall) dropped a pair of straight-set MPSF road matches last week at UCSB and UCLA (Jan. 13-14). The Tritons host UC Irvine this Friday before visiting Concordia Saturday. Devin Pontigon leads UCSD with 2.85 kills per set.