MPSF Volleyball Update, Jan. 26
Jan. 26, 2017 *# STANFORD 3, USC 0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-20)
Recap by Stanford
STANFORD, Calif. - A balanced offense directed by freshman setter Paul Bischoff led the eighth-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-17, 25-20 win over visiting USC, Thursday, in Maples Pavilion.
Bischoff finished with 17 assists as the Cardinal (5-2, 2-0 MPSF) hit .304 as a team, limiting itself to just nine attack errors in the match. USC (2-6, 1-4 MPSF) was held to a .070 attack percentage and amassed 27 hitting errors.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Kevin Rakestraw led all players with nine kills on .615 hitting and a season-best six blocks. Redshirt senior Gabriel Vega added six kills, two aces and two blocks, while sophomore opposite Matt Klassen totaled five kills, four blocks, three digs and an ace.
Junior Kyle Dagostino came off the bench in all three sets to serve and stayed in to set, sparking the Cardinal offense down the stretch. The Tampa, Florida native finished with nine assists, two digs and a block.
Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Ewert, Stanford's leading scorer, was limited to just four kills, but picked it up defensively with a match-high nine digs. Freshman middle blocker Stephen Moye racked-up five blocks, while freshman opposite Mason Tufuga added three kills on .333 hitting off the bench. Junior libero Evan Enriques recorded six digs and two assists.
USC had three players tally eight kills to lead the Trojans, including Andy Benesh who hit .615. Fourteen USC players appeared in at least one set.
The Trojans finished with more kills, assists and aces than the Cardinal, but Stanford's 11.0 team blocks and 30 digs forced USC into errors it was unable to overcome.
Stanford closes out the week on Friday, Jan. 27 at home against Cal Baptist. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.
CSUN 3, Cal Lutheran 0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-19)
Recap by CSUN
NORTHRIDGE, CA - The 15th-ranked CSUNmen's volleyball team picked up its sixth non-conference win of the season Thursday as the Matadors swept Cal Lutheran 25-22, 25-17, 25-19 at The Matadome.
Sophomore DimitarKalchev had another big night offensively for CSUNwhich improved to 7-3 on the season. Kalchev pounded a match-high 21 kills with just two hitting errors on 28 swings to hit .679. He also added six digs and three aces giving him 28 for the season.
Redshirtfreshmen SchylarLillethorup and Parker Maki also reached double figures with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Lillethorup hit .348 on a season-high 23 attacks andMaki hit .353 in reaching double figures for the first time as a Matador. Lillethorup also had a match-high eight digs in his second start of the season.
"Dimitar, Schylarand Parker all hitwell tonight; it was good to get those guys some playing time," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "Our passing was a little shaky at times but we steadied out as the match went on. The one area I'd like to see some improvement is our serving, we missed way too many serves."
Sophomoresetter Sam Porter set the Matador hitters to an impressive .463 clip as CSUNput down 49 kills with 11 errors on 82 swings.
The visiting Kingsmen hung tough in the opening set even after Kalchev's kill gave the hosts a 17-11 lead. An ensuing 4-0 run by Cal Lutheran cut the lead to two and another 3-0 CLU run tied the score at 18-18. Kills by Kalchev and Eric Chance followed a Kingsmen service error and the Matadors again led by three at 21-18. CSUN maintained a two-point edge until KristianGallardo's ace cut the lead to 22-21.Lillethorupanswered with a kill and the Matadors closed the set on a pair of CLU miscues to take a 25-22 win.
CSUN held a slim 9-7 lead in the second set before outscoring the visitors 4-1 over the next five points to push the lead to13-8. The Matadors maintained a five-point lead until extending the cushion to seven (22-15) following a Maki kill. Maki then made the final margin eight points when his kill on set point gave CSUN the 25-17 win.
In the final frame, CSUN snapped a 12-12 tie by engineering a 5-1 run, capped by a Kingsmen hitting error. CLU them made a late run, cutting a four-point Matador lead down to one at 18-17. But CSUN would rally to claim seven of the nine points to seal the 25-19 win.
Patrick Rowe had six kills (.000) to lead the Kingsmen who dropped to 0-4 on the season.
CSUNcontinues non-conference play Friday night as the Matadors welcome Hope International to The Matadome at 7 p.m.