MPSF Volleyball Update, Feb. 4
Feb. 4, 2017 *LONG BEACH STATE 3, Stanford 0 (30-28, 25-14, 25-18)
Recap by LBSU
LONG BEACH -- The third-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team turned in an all-around solid effort on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid as the Beach handed No. 7 Stanford its first conference loss of the season in a 3-0 sweep [30-28, 25-14, 25-18]. Long Beach State improved to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the MPSF, while Stanford fell to 6-3 on the year and 3-1 in the league. The Beach hit .418 (43-10-79) on the day, while limiting the Cardinal to a mere .122 attack percentage (31-21-82). LBSU held the advantage over Stanford in assists (42-29), service aces (6-1) and blocks (11.0-6.0) in the total team effort. Sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga set the tone for the 49ers as he dished out 32 assists and hit a team-high .667 tying his career-high of six kills on nine attempts without committing an error. He also added two digs, one block and a service ace. Kyle Ensing led all LBSU scorers with 12 kills en route to hitting .360 in the contest. He also added five digs and a block assist. Although Ensing was the only 49er to reach double-figures in the match, the offensive output was evenly spread out as Andrew Whitt knocked down nine kills, TJ DeFalco added eight, while Amir Lugo-Rodriguez and Bryce Yould each contributed four as each starter, with the exception of the libero, had at least four kills in the match. Andrew Sato dished out eight digs in the backrow and collected 19 receptions without committing an error. DeFalco was also on point on defense with 21 receptions without an error. Overall, the Beach posted a .981 reception percentage with 53 total receptions and just one miscue. Lugo-Rodriguez had a solid game at the net as he put up a team-leading eight blocks. He posted three solo blocks and five block assists and never committed a blocking error. The first set was the most competitive as the Beach and the Cardinal changed leads seven times and saw the score tied up on 16 occasions. Long Beach State hit .395 in the frame and Stanford posted an attack percentage of .355. After batting through several set points and ties, the 49ers managed to put the game away on a kill by DeFalco followed by an ace by Yould as the Beach went on to defeat the Cardinal, 30-28. Following the back and forth opening set, Long Beach State came out swinging in the second game and hit .500 as the Beach knocked down 13 kills on 20 attempts, while committing just three errors. Additionally, LBSU owned an impressive sideout percentage of 92%. The Beach controlled the second set as they forced the Cardinal into seven attack errors. With just six kills in the frame, Stanford posted a -.045 clip as the 49ers rolled past by a score of 25-14. Long Beach State completed the three-set sweep of Stanford with a solid third game that saw the Beach knock down nine kills on 21 attempts, while making just one error en route to hitting .381. Meanwhile, the 49ers' defense once again kept the Cardinal off balance forcing them into 10 attack errors as they cancelled out their 10 kills for a .000 attack percentage. As they did in the second set, the Beach held a comfortable lead and went on to collect a 25-18 victory and complete the sweep over the Cardinal. Stanford was led by Gabriel Vega who notched 13 kills for a .476 attack percentage. Kyle Dagostino and Evan Enriques posted seven and six digs, respectively, while Kevin Rakestraw led the team with four blocks. Long Beach State hits the road for the next four matches as they take on UC Irvine (Feb. 10), UC San Diego (Feb. 11), UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 15) and UCLA (Feb. 18).
*BYU 3, Ucla 0 (25-13, 25-23, 31-29)
Recap by BYU
PROVO, Utah -- Ben Patch and Jake Langlois helped No. 4 BYU men's volleyball complete the series sweep against No. 2 UCLA (25-13, 25-23, 31-29) Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. "We played a much better, complete match tonight," BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. "One of our points for this game was to be more calm, for the guys to be a little more level-headed. At the start, being up big, you need to be a lot more level-headed, and I was impressed with the guys. I thought we did that. We made the smart plays and didn't try to over-do it, so it was more of a complete match, and we just got better." The Cougars (9-2, 4-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) finished with a .420 clip in comparison to the Bruins' (9-3, 6-2 MPSF) .198 hitting percentage. Patch finished with a game-high 13 kills and was followed closely by Langlois' 11. Leo Durkin had a match-high 28 assists and Wil Stanley came off the bench for the Cougars to log 10 assists after his teammate. On defense, Langlois also claimed a team-high five digs. Price Jarman and Joseph Grosh led both teams with three blocks apiece. The Cougars opened up set one with four-straight points, forcing UCLA into an early timeout. Jarman slammed it home for another Cougar point to put them up 5-1, and BYU continued its dominant performance over the Bruins. Grosh, Patch and Langlois all took a turn recording kills, and BYU found itself up 11-4 after a UCLA service error. A monster block from Jarman extended the lead to eight, 14-6. The rout continued with help from another Grosh kill, several Bruin attack errors and a Brenden Sander service ace. The Cougars led 22-9 to record the set-high lead of 13, and when set point arrived with BYU up 24-12, a service error from the Bruins gave the Cougars the victory in set one, 25-13. The Cougars took the first two points of the second set helped by a UCLA service error and a Langlois service ace. The lead was lengthened to three, 5-2, off an Erik Sikes dig and Sander kill. The Bruins kept the set much closer than the first, but BYU maintained an edge over UCLA with more Bruin errors and one monster kill from Jarman. UCLA called the first timeout of the set with the Cougars up 11-6, then the two teams traded points until BYU found two straight, approaching set point with the lead, 21-15. Up only four, 21-17, BYU dropped the next four points, and UCLA tied the set at 21. A Patch kill, a deflected Cougar serve and a UCLA service error all combined to finally give BYU the victory in the second set, 25-23. UCLA jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead in the third set and would maintain at least a two-point edge over BYU until it reached four at 11-7. Despite Patch, Langlois and Kiril Meretev kills, and a Bruin service error, the Cougars were not able to chip away at the Bruin lead and regrouped by calling a timeout at 18-14. Two-straight Cougar points and a UCLA service error gave BYU some momentum at 21-18, and BYU would continue to pressure the Bruins and the lead. The Cougars got within one, at 23-22, and then a huge Jarman kill tied it up at 23. The match would see more ties at points 24 through 29, with each team trading set points. When BYU took the 30-29 lead, Tim Dobbert, who had recently entered the match, served up a ball that was hit back by the Bruins into towering Langlois and Jarman for their third block each, and the Cougars took the final set and the match in a sweep, 31-29. BYU will next take on the USC Trojans on Friday, Feb. 10, at 7:00 p.m. PST in Los Angeles.
*UC San Diego 3, USC 1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23)
Recap by UCSD
LOS ANGELES - The University of California San Diego men's volleyball team dropped the first set but rallied to defeat USC, 3-1, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday night at Galen Center. Set scores were 23-25, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-23. The victory snaps a string of 49 consecutive defeats for UC San Diego in MPSF play, dating back to a 3-0 home decision over Pacific on April 11, 2014. With a fourth win in a row, UCSD improves to 4-5 overall, and 1-4 in the MPSF. The Tritons had stepped out of league action to earn three consecutive triumphs for the first time since 2012. This is still their longest streak since 2012, with that one having gone on to five contests, all in fact in MPSF play. USC, coming off of a four-set upset over No. 6 UC Irvine on Friday, dropped to 3-8 overall and 2-6 in league play. Junior opposite Tanner Syftestad put down 26 kills, eclipsing the 20-kill mark and achieving the match high for the fifth straight contest. He hit .451 (26-3-51). Junior outside hitter and fellow tri-captain Ian Colbert joined him in double figures with 11 kills. UC San Diego returns home for a trio of MPSF matches, all against nationally-ranked foes, in the week ahead. The stretch begins Wednesday night, Feb. 8, against No. 14 CSUN. First serve at RIMAC Arena in La Jolla is set for 7 p.m.
*HAWAII 3, Ucsb 1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19)
Recap by UH
HONOLULU - The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team extended its home win streak to 13 matches following a four-set victory over No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, Saturday to sweep the two-match Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19.
The fifth-ranked Rainbow Warriors (10-2, 3-2 MPSF) hit .357 for the match with opposite Stijn van Tilburg leading the way with a match-high 24 kills. UH won its fifth straight to improve to 10-2, its best record through the first 12 matches of a season since 2005.
UCSB was led by senior outside hitter Jacob Delson, who posted 23 kills, hitting .375 while Corey Chavers added 18 kills.
Kupono Fey recorded a season-high 11 kills and hit .435, his most productive match of the season. Libero Larry Tuileta had 13 digs and setter Jennings Franciskovic dished out 46 assists along with two aces and six digs.
UH jumped out to a 5-1 lead forcing the Gauchos to call an early timeout. UCSB tied it at 8 before the Warriors surged ahead 15-11 and then 18-13 after a van Tilburg ace. UH roofed Delson to make it 20-14 and ran away with the set, ending it with another van Tilburg kill off a ridiculous one-handed set by Franciskovic.
UCSB got the early advantage in Set 2 leading 10-6. But van Tilburg rallied UH back with six kills as the Warriors retook the lead at 16-15. The teams traded leads until the Warriors won a video replay challenge on a net violation to give them a 21-20 lead and followed that with a double-block by Hendrik Mol and van Tilburg. UCSB responded with three straight, then sided-out the rest of the way, including an Austin Matautia hitting error on set point.
Hawai'i changed up its lineup in Set 3 with outside hitter Brett Rosenmeier and middle blocker Dalton Solbrig entering the match. The teams went back and forth throughout the set with 20 ties and five lead changes and with neither team holding more than a two-point lead. Fey's 10th kill gave UH set point and UCSB's Henri Cherry hit wide ending it.
UH scored four straight for a 12-10 lead in Set 4 and extended it to 20-15 after stringing together five more off of Fey's serve. Rosenmeier's cross-court kill gave the Warriors match point and van Tilburg's 24th and final kill closed out the match.
Hawai'i will next embark on a four-match road trip with MPSF matches at UC San Diego, Feb. 10 and Cal Baptist, Feb. 11 and non-conference matches at McKendree, Feb. 14 in Linden, Ill., and Lindenwood, Feb. 15 in St. Charles, Mo.