MPSF Volleyball Results, Feb. 11
Feb. 11, 2017 *Hawaii 3, CAL BAPTIST 0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-19)
Recap by UH
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team extended its win streak to seven straight following a 25-13, 25-17, 25-19 victory over California Baptist, Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Van Dyne Gym. The Rainbow Warriors (12-2, 5-2 MPSF) needed only 80 minutes to post their seventh consecutive victory over the Lancers (3-9, 1-7). UH is 2-0 on its four-match road trip, which continues with a pair a non-conference match-ups at McKendree, Feb. 14 and Lindenwood, Feb. 15. UH hit .427 for the match and were led by Stijn van Tilburg and outside hitter Brett Rosenmeier, who each tallied 10 kills. Van Tilburg did not commit an error in 19 attempts, hitting .526 and also posted five blocks. Rosenmeier surpassed his career-high in kills which he set one night earlier and recorded his first career double-double with 11 digs. The sophomore from Virginia Beach, Va., also served two aces and hit .421 for the match. Senior Kupono Fey added nine kills and seven digs and senior Hendrik Mol was in on six of the team's 11.5 blocks. CBU was led by Keven Vaz's eight kills. As a team, the Lancers hit .062. In Set 1, the Warriors got some separation with a 5-1 run which started with an ace by Rosenmeier and ended with a kill by Fey for an 11-6 lead. After a CBU kill, UH strung together five more points, including back-to-back kills by van Tilburg as the Warriors rolled to a 25-13 victory. Hawai'i kept the pedal on the gas in Set 2, scoring the first four points and never looked back. UH built its lead to 7-1 and maintained at least a five-point advantage throughout to take a 2-0 lead in the match. UH trailed for the early part of Set 3 until a kill by Fey and block by van Tilburg spurred a 6-1 run for a 15-12 lead. The Warriors pushed their lead to 21-16 after Rosenmeier's second ace and ended the match with Fey's ninth kill. Hawai'i's matches against McKendree and Lindenwood of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association next week are the first non-conference road matches since 1996. UH is off to its best start since 2005.
*Long Beach State 3, UC SAN DIEGO 0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-20)
Recap by LBSU
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The second-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team used a 9-1 run in the third set to erase a seven-point deficit and earn a 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-19, 25-20) over UC San Diego at the RIMAC Arena Saturday night. With the victory, the Beach improves to 11-2 on the year and 7-1 in MPSF action, while the Tritons drop to 5-7 overall and 2-6 in league play. The Beach got strong performances out of sophomores Josh Tuaniga, TJ DeFalco and Kyle Ensing as the trio combined for 24 of Long Beach State’s 38 kills of the match. DeFalco led the attack with 14 kills, while Ensing added eight. However, it was Tuaniga who paced the offense with 29 assists, while adding seven digs and four service aces – which came consecutively. Ensing’s nine digs led the defense while senior libero Andrew Sato added seven digs of his own. DeFalco led the team at the net with three blocks, while senior middle blockers Amir Lugo-Rodriguez and Bryce Yould contributed two and one block assists, respectively. Long Beach State dominated the first set as it owned a sideout margin of 80 percent while hitting .588 (12-2-17). Following a 1-1 tie, the Beach tallied four straight points to take a 5-1 advantage. From there the 49ers never relinquished their lead as they held a steady lead for the remainder of the set before cruising to a 25-14 victory. Set two was much like the first in that Long Beach State led for the entire frame. Despite being out-hit by the Tritons .290 to .240, the Beach took advantage of an 84 percent sideout margin and went on to win the set 25-19 and take a 2-0 set lead over UC San Diego. The Tritons came out firing in the third set and took a 7-2 lead which forced the Beach to take a timeout. The break in action did little to help the 49ers as UCSD powered forward to a 15-8 lead. Just as things were looking to get out of hand, Long Beach State went on a 9-1 run sparked by a kill off the hands of Bjarne Huus to turn a seven-point deficit into a 17-16 edge. The Beach turned the tables on the Tritons and ended the set on a 17-5 run as they went on to earn a 25-20 set win to complete the three-game sweep of UC San Diego. UCSD was led on offense by Tanner Syftestad, who notched 16 kills, as well as Milosh Stojcic who dished out 30 assists. Long Beach State returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 15 when it travels to UC Santa Barbara for a 7 p.m. contest.
*UC IRVINE 3, Csun 2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9)
Recap by UCI
IRVINE, Calif. – A trio of Anteaters recorded double-digit kills in No. 7 UC Irvine's 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9) win over No. 13 CSUN at the Bren Events Center. Senior outside hitter Tamir Hershko tied his season-high with a match-best 19 kills. He also added two aces, four digs and five total blocks. Senior Thomas Hodges registered 15 kills, while sophomore Karl Apfelbach had a season-high 12 kills and a career-high six block assists. In the middle, Scott Stadick tied his career-high with eight block assists and nine total blocks to go with seven kills. Senior setter Michael Saeta hit .714 (5-0-7), while recording a career-high 55 set assists, two aces and three blocks. Libero Dillon Hoffman recorded 11 digs to lead the squad. The Anteater block was impressive tonight with a 15.5 to 5.5 advantage over the Matadors. UCI snaps a two-match losing skid and improves to 9-5 overall and 6-4 in the MPSF. CSUN is also 9-5 on the year, but 2-5 in MPSF action. Arvis Greene paced CSUN with 17 kills followed by Dimitar Kalchev with 15 kills and a team-high three blocks. UCI would hold the largest lead of the first set, 11-8, on a Michael Saeta ace. CSUN would tie the game at 14-14 and the teams would continue to sideout until the Matadors had a kill by Dimitar Kalchev and a UCI attack error to move in front 23-21. Teams would trade points once again with the Matadors ending the set 25-23. Both teams were on fire offensively with CSUN hitting .474 and the Anteaters hitting .455. UCI out-blocked CSUN 3.5-0. The Anteaters would continue to dominate the net with another 3.5 blocks in the second set. Two of the blocks helped the Anteaters open 14-11 lead and another by Scott Stadick and Karl Apfelbach extended the lead to 19-16. UCI would win the set 25-21 on a kill by Thomas Hodges and a CSUN attack error. CSUN would hold an 8-4 lead until the Anteaters went on a 6-2 run to knot the score at 10-10 on a block by Stadick and Tamir Hershko. Back-to-back Anteater attack errors gave CSUN the slight 21-19 lead. A kill by Hershko and another UCI block tied the set back up at 21-21. A Matador attack error and a kill by Hodges gave UCI the win 25-23. CSUN scored five in a row, including two aces and two UCI errors to open a 17-10 lead. That was all the Matadors needed as they won the set 25-19 and forced a fifth set. The Anteaters opened the fifth set with a 4-1 lead which included back-to-back blocks. Consecutive UCI errors helped CSUN creep to 8-6, but Hodges rolled a kill softly in the middle of the court to stop the momentum. A flying kill from the backrow by Hershko and two Matador errors, the last a block on match point gave UCI the set 15-9. Hershko dominated the fifth set, going 7-0-7 in kills. UCI hit .692 (10-1-13) in the final set, while CSUN hit .000 (4-4-12). UCI will take a week off and return to action hosting UCLA Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.
*Ucla 3, PEPPERDINE 2 (23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-7)
Recap by UCLA
No. 4-ranked UCLA rallied to take the final two sets in a five-set MPSF win at No. 9 Pepperdine on Saturday night. Scores of the match were 23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-7. JT Hatch registered 24 kills, hit .340 and totaled a career best 16 digs to lead the Bruin attack. UCLA is now 10-4 overall and 7-3 in league play. The Bruins will host No. 13 CSUN on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins used a trio of three-point runs to move out to a 10-3 advantage in set five. Mitch Stahl provided some of the early firepower in the set with a couple of kills and an ace. Hatch tallied an ace and kills for points 13 and 15. Dylan Missry's ace pushed the Bruins to match point. The Bruins outhit the Waves .600 to .235 for the set. In set four, the Bruins went down 16-17 before Oliver Martin entered the match and promptly evened the score at 17-all, after teaming with Micah Ma'a on a block. A Martin kill handed UCLA a 23-21 lead. Pepperdine closed to one at 23-22 and 24-23, but a Ma'a swing gave the Bruins the set. In set three, Pepperdine broke open a close set with a mini-run for a 15-17 lead. The Waves pushed the margin to 18-22 and then to 21-24 before taking a 21-25 win. UCLA hit just .094 for the set, with eight errors. The Bruins opened up leads of 8-5 and 12-8 in set two. Pepperdine closed to 16-13, but UCLA broke away to lead 21-15 after a Hatch kill. Another Hatch blast made it 23-16 and the Bruins took the set after a service error. UCLA jumped to an 11-7 edge in set one. The Waves slowly chipped away at that gap and closed to 15-14. UCLA held on to the lead until Pepperdine evened the score at 21-all. The Waves then grabbed the lead for good on a couple of Bruin errors and won the set 23-25. Hatch's total of 24 kills was one shy of his career-best of 25 set at USC in 2015. Stahl finished with a season-best 11 kills (.611) and had five blocks to move past Scott Morrow into third place on the all-time school block assist and total blocks lists. Ma'a and Missry totaled eight kills each, with Ma'a adding five blocks. Jackson Bantle recorded 11 digs. Pepperdine won the blocking battle, with an opponent's season-high total of 17.0 to 11.5 for the Bruins. UCLA had five aces to three for the Waves. The Bruins hit .252 for the match to .209 for Pepperdine.
*STANFORD 3, Ucsb 2 (23-25, 41-43, 26-24, 25-15, 15-10)
Recap by UCSB
PALO ALTO, Calif. – No. 12 UC Santa Barbara won a marathon second set and came within two points of a straght-set sweep of No. 8 Stanford in Saturday night's contest at the Maples Pavillion, but the Gauchos couldn't stop a furious comeback as the hosts came back to take the match in a five-set thriller; 23-25, 41-43, 26-24, 25-15, 15-10. Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Ewert had 26 kills overall to lead the comeback for the Cardinal (8-4, 5-2 MPSF), which hit .333 down the stretch behind Paul Bischoff's (55 assists) setting. Redshirt senior Jacob Delson had a 19 kill-11 dig double-double to lead the Gauchos (6-7, 3-7), who are now in the midst of a six-match losing streak. Elsewhere, sophomore middle Blocker Connor Drake had a career-high 12 kills as well as a team-leading seven blocks, and fellow middle Henri Cherry added nine kills on 12 swings while chipping in six blocks. Each of the first three sets on Saturday were extremely tight, with UCSB emerging victorious in the first two. Stanford pulled out the third with a late rally, then parlayed that momentum into sizable wins in the final two frames. Particularly contentious was the second set which lasted a total of 84 points, the longest in any MPSF match this season and the longest for UCSB in the Rick McLaughlin era (since 2008). The Gauchos had the majority of control in the set, leading by as many as four until the Cardinal came back to tie it late with a 5-1 run that made it 21-all. Both teams had their chances to win it in extra points, with the Gauchos enjoying seven game points to Stanford's 11. Ultimately, it was strong serving from Cherry and the UCSB block that proved decisive, as a Randy Deweese-Drake double block set up game point before Delson came through with a huge solo block of a Ryan Smith swing to put the Gauchos ahead 2-0. Extra points didn't prove as fortuitous for UCSB in the third, as a late Gaucho comeback came up short thanks to two quick points for Stanford off a 24-24 tie. Senior outside hitter Gabriel Vega (16 kills, six digs, four blocks) came up big first for the home squad with a clutch kill that made it game point, then middle blocker Stephen Moye recorded the most important of his match-high eight blocks with a solo stuff on a quick hit from Drake to make it 2-1. It was all Stanford in the final two games, as the home squad outhit UCSB .283 to -.148.