MPSF Volleyball Update, Jan. 27
Jan. 27, 2017 *UCLA 3, UC SANTA BARBARA 0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-17)
Recap by UCLA
No. 2-ranked UCLA swept No. 11 UC Santa Barbara in three sets on Friday night in the Thunderdome to register its sixth straight win on the season. Scores of the match were 25-22, 25-22, 25-17. The Bruins rode the strong serve of senior Mitch Stahl, who had a season-high five aces, to victory. UCLA, now 8-1 and 6-0 in MPSF action, will host Princeton (2-2) of the EIVA in a non-league match on Sunday night at 8 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. In set one, UCSB broke a 12-all tie with three straight points to go up 12-16. The Bruins rallied and tied the score at 19s after a kill by junior JT Hatch. Back-to-back aces from Stahl pushed UCLA into a 21-19 lead. Another Hatch smash made it 23-20 and the fifth kill of the set by freshman Daenan Gyimah made it 24-21. Set point came on a service error for a 25-22 decision. Junior Jake Arnitz' three straight points lifted UCLA into a 10-7 in set two. UCSB came back to even the score at 17 and again at 19-all. The Bruins grabbed a 21-19 lead on a service error and a Hatch kill. Kills by Arnitz and senior Hagen Smith gave UCLA the set at 25-22. UCLA opened up a 7-1 lead to begin set three behind the strong service game of Stahl. UCSB closed to within one, at 9-8, but the Bruins spurted back out to a 14-10 edge after another ace by Stahl. A kill by Christian Hessenauer made it 21-15 and the set ended on an ace by Stahl, who now has 16 aces in the last five matches. Gyimah recorded a team-best 12 kills and hit .647 for the match. Arnitz and Hatch (.529) finished in double digits with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Smith had four kills, 18 set assists, seven digs and a block. Jackson Bantle had 8 digs. Micah Ma'a totaled 21 set assists and six digs. UCLA outhit the Gauchos .420 to .274. UCSB, with 5.0 total blocks, became the first opponent this season to out block the Bruins, who recorded 4.0.
*STANFORD 3, Cal Baptist 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18)
Recap by Stanford
No. 8 Stanford pulled off its second sweep in as many nights and fourth of the season, blanking Cal Baptist 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 on Friday night at Maples Pavilion. Sophomore Jordan Ewert pounded home a match-high 12 kills to go along with three aces, as Stanford (6-2, 3-0 MPSF) hit .295 overall while Cal Baptist was limited to a .118 attack percentage. Redshirt junior Kevin Rakestraw contributed an effective performance, tallying nine kills on 15 swings for a .667 hitting percentage, while producing six of Stanford's 14 blocks. Junior Evan Enriques, playing against his younger brother, Cal Baptist libero Emmett, led the Cardinal with 10 digs. Coming off a sweep of USC on Thursday night, Stanford nearly led wire-to-wire in all three sets, remaining in front for all of the third. Cal Baptist (2-7, 1-5 MPSF) was led by Jackson Burge and Enrique Garcia, who recorded seven kills apiece. The Cardinal is back in action next weekend for a road trip to CSUN (Friday, Feb. 3) and Long Beach State (Saturday, Feb. 4).
*UC Irvine 3, BYU 2 (25-23, 28-26, 32-34, 21-25, 15-12)
Recap by UCI
PROVO, Utah – No. 7 UC Irvine upset No. 3 BYU in an epic 3-2 (25-23, 28-26, 32-34, 21-25, 15-12) match at Smith Fieldhouse. In the final MPSF match between these two teams, UCI holds off BYU in a contest that lasted two hours and 42 minutes and improves to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference. BYU suffers its first conference loss (2-1) and goes to 6-2 on the year. The loss also snaps BYU's eight match home winning streak. Defense was key as UCI rejected a season-high 14 blocks and out-dug BYU 34-32 led by MPSF leader Dillon Hoffman's match-high 11 digs. Serving was also important as the Anteaters had nine aces and 28 service errors, while the Cougars had five aces and 25 errors. Senior Tamir Hershko had a match and season-high 19 kills to go with four blocks and three aces. Senior Thomas Hodges added 13 kills and three bock assists. Freshman Scott Stadick tied his career-best with nine kills and eight block assists. Freshman Matthew Younggren was also effective in the middle with a career-high seven kills and five total blocks. Senior Michael Saeta posted 44 set assists, five kills, six digs and three aces. Sophomore Karl Apfelbach had a career-best nine digs and five block assists. BYU had a trio of players with double-digit kills, paced by Jake Langlois' 17. Brenden Sander had 15 kills and Ben Patch was held to a .077 hitting percentage with 14 kills. A 3-0 run in the first set gave the Cougars a 9-6 lead, but UCI would battle back with the help of a kill by Tamir Hershko and a block by Scott Stadick and Karl Apfelbach to knot the score at 11. With the teams tied at 20-20, UCI went on a 4-2 run which included two kills by Hershko and one by Michael Saeta, 24-22. Following a UCI service error, Hershko put away the set winner 25-23. The Anteaters rejected five blocks and out-hit the Cougars .409-.143. UCI used the momentum of the first set to lead 7-4 on a block by Thomas Hodges and Matthew Younggren. BYU would go on a 6-1 run to take control 10-8 and use a 3-0 spurt to extend the advantage to 16-12. UCI wouldn't go away and used a BYU service error, plus a kill by Stadick and a block by Hodges and Stadick to creep within 16-15. BYU would then peel-off five of the next six points to go up, 21-16. The Anteaters weren't done as BYU had set point 24-19 before a Stadick kill was followed by a Saeta ace and two Cougar errors, the last a block by Stadick and Hersko, 24-23. After a BYU timeout, Saeta fired another ace to tie the set at 24-24. The teams would trade points until Younggren had a solo block and kill on an overpass to clinch the set 27-25. Following a Younggren ace in the third set which gave UCI the 9-7 lead, BYU had consecutive blocks and a UCI attack that sailed wide to move back in front 10-9. UCI turned up the heat with a kill by Saeta, two by Hershko and block by Stadick and Apfelbach reclaiming the lead, 13-10. A 4-1 BYU run that included three UCI errors tied the set at 19 all. Kills by Saeta and Hershko gave UCI a 21-19 lead only to watch the Cougars tie the set again at 22-22. UCI had match point six times but couldn't close it out as BYU won the set 34-32 on a UCI service error and a block. UCI started with a quick 4-1 lead in the fourth, which included another Saeta ace. Three UCI errors and a BYU kill narrowed the lead to 9-8. BYU would go ahead 12-11 on two more UCI errors and an ace. Back-to-back kills for the Cougars extended the BYU lead to 19-16. Three Cougar swings that went out helped UCI close to 21-20, but BYU would close out the set 25-21. A kill by Hodges plus two Cougar attack errors and a Hodges ace gave UCI a 7-3 lead. UCI's comfortable 8-4 lead dwindled with consecutive errors (8-7) forcing an Anteater timeout. A kill by Hershko after a great dig by Hodges followed by a Cougar error put UCI up 10-7 forcing BYU to call timeout. The teams would side-out to end the match, giving UCI the 15-12 victory on a kill by Reid Dominguez. The Anteaters were helped by three consecutive service errors in the final 10 points. The two teams will meet again tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. PT, but the contest will not count in the MPSF standings and is considered a non-conference meeting in the new league format.
CSUN 3, Hope International 0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-21)
Recap by CSUN
NORTHRIDGE, CA - Sophomore Dimitar Kalchev had a match-high 16 kills to lead the 15th-ranked CSUN Matadors to a straight-set sweep (25-15, 25-21, 25-21) over Hope International in a non-conference match Friday at The Matdaome. Kalchev, who came in hitting .498 this season, hit .609 against the Royals on 23 swings to up his season figure to .508. The sophomore from Bulgaria also added three aces, five digs and three blocks, all team-highs. "Dimitar hit over .600 again tonight, those are pretty ridiculous numbers," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "He's hitting the ball high, he's hitting the ball hard and his passing was better tonight. He was also a little more consistent from the service line, he's just putting a lot of pressure on the other team." Fellow sophomore Eric Chance had his best offensive match in nearly a month as he put down nine kills on 11 errorless swings to hit a season-high .818. Junior Arvis Greene added seven kills (.188) and three other Matador hitters chipped in four kills. As a team, CSUN hit .444 (45-9-81) behind Sam Porter's 41 assists. As was the case in Thursday's 3-0 win over Cal Lutheran, HIU didn't make it easy for the Matadors. The Royals kept the score close in set one after a Zach Greene kill pulled HIU within 12-10. Kills from Greene and Kalchev sandwiched a Matador block which boosted the lead back to 15-10. The CSUN lead swelled to eight (18-12) following another Kalchev kill and the Matadors closed the set out 25-15. A pair of HIU miscues extended CSUN's lead to three points (15-12) in set two. The Matadors maintained a three-point cushion at 20-17 when the visitors rallied to cut the lead to one at 20-19. Undeterred, CSUN answered with a 3-0 run which propelled the Matadors on a set-closing 5-2 run. Set three was tight with CSUN holding a 12-11 lead after Greene's kill. But an ensuing 5-1 run extended the Matador lead to 17-12 and CSUN never trailed in taking the set 25-21 and the match 3-0. Greene had a team-high seven kills on .357 hitting to lead the Royals who dropped to 4-3 on the season. CSUN concludes a five-match homestand next Friday (Feb. 3) as the Matadors return to MPSF play in hosting Stanford at 7 p.m.
HAWAII 3, Grand View 0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-13)
Recap by UH
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team withstood a gritty effort by the NAIA's top-ranked team, Grand View, winning in straight-sets Friday in a non-conference match-up at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 25-19, 25-13. The Rainbow Warriors (7-2) extended their home win streak to 10 straight dating back to last season including a perfect 6-0 in 2017. GVU (3-1), the NAIA's runner-up last season, dropped its first match of the season. The teams play again on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Sophomore Stijn van Tilburg led the Warriors with 10 kills in two sets of action. Freshman Rado Parapunov pounded nine kills in nine attempts playing only the third set while freshman Austin Matautia added five kills and five digs. As a team, the Warriors hit .368 compared to .184 for the Vikings, who are coached by Maui native Donan Cruz and feature a travel squad with two players from Hawai'i. The Vikings were not intimidated by the nation's fifth-ranked team taking a 13-11 lead in Set 1. The Warriors responded with four straight for a 19-16 lead and closed out the set by out-scoring the Vikings, 10-5 for the 25-21 win. Head coach Charlie Wade shuffled his lineup in Set 2 and the Warriors broke it open with an 8-1 run for a 16-9 lead. Moments later, UH strung together a four-point run for its largest lead at 20-12 and held on to win 25-19. In Set 3, the Warriors jumped out to a 10-4 lead with four quick kills by Parapunov. UH hit .714 in the set as they steamrolled GVU 25-13 to close out the match.
Long Beach State 3, St. Francis 1 (at Ohio State) (21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 32-30)
Recap by LBSU
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Fourth-ranked Long Beach State saw several solid efforts including a career-high performance by senior libero Andrew Sato coupled with a double-double by sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga to lift the Beach over Saint Francis (Pa.) by a score of 3-1 [21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 32-30] on Friday at St. John's Arena on the campus of Ohio State. The Beach (7-1) have now won their last four matches as they came back to defeat the Red Flash (3-5) after dropping the first set, 25-21. On the match, LBSU was led offensively by sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco's 21-kill performance as he hit .302 (21-8-43) in the contest. DeFalco led the double-figure duo that also saw Kyle Ensing knock down 15 kills. Tuaniga turned in a stout performance as he paced the offense with 50 assists while also adding 12 digs to notch his first double-double of the season and second of his career. The Long Beach, Calif., native also added two kills, one ace and one block in his all-around steady effort. Leading the backrow on defense was Sato who collected a career-high 23 digs to go along with 21 receptions without committing an error. Sato has now notched 804 digs in his career to rank him third in the Long Beach State record book. The 49ers got off to a slow start as they hit .269 in the first set and fell to the Red Flash by four points (25-21) before turning the tables on Saint Francis (Pa.). In the second set, the Beach jumped out in front early as they broke a 3-3 tie by rattling off four-straight points to a take a 7-3 lead. From there, LBSU led the rest of the way, never allowing SFU to come any closer than three points. The 49ers hit .500 in the second frame - their highest attack percentage in the match - as they limited the Red Flash to a .182 clip as they cruised to a 10-point victory (25-15). The Red Flash fought back in the third set and made it a closer game. Although the Beach took a 6-5 lead and never looked back, Saint Francis (Pa.) stayed within striking distance. SFU took advantage of four LBSU attack errors as the 49ers hit .160 in the frame. Despite, their offensive struggles, the Beach held on to win the third game, 25-23, and take a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set. The fourth set was a battle throughout as the Beach and Red Flash fought through 15 ties and nine lead changes with the majority coming in the final six to eight points of the frame. Saint Francis (Pa.) took the game to set point with a 24-21 lead, but Long Beach State clawed its way back in and evened the score at 24-24. From there, the two teams traded points back and forth until the Beach put up back-to-back blocks by DeFalco and Bryce Yould to win the set and match, 32-30. Long Beach State finished the matched with 8.5 total team blocks as DeFalco led the way with six block assists, while Yould added five. Amir Lugo-Rodriguez posted three block assists and Ensing contributed two. The Red Flash had two players reach double-figures in Michael Fisher (22 kills) and Stephen Braswell (11 kills). Daniel Ford dished out 44 assists, while Gabe Woffindin posted 13 digs and Jeff Hogan notched 10. Long Beach State returns to St. John's Arena on Saturday, Jan. 28, when the Beach go up against No. 1 Ohio State at 4 p.m. (PT).