MPSF Championship Semifinal Schedule
Photo: Pepperdine's Firestone Fieldhouse hosts the 2019 MPSF Semifinals and Championship
(Courtesy Pepperdine Athletics)
MPSF Men's Volleyball Weekly Release 15
2019 MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
MPSF Semifinals: Thursday, April 18 (5:00 pm & 7:30 pm PT)
Host: No. 1 seed Pepperdine
Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104); Malibu, Calif.
Semifinal # 1---5:00 pm PT
No. 5 seed BYU (13-11) at No. 1 seed Pepperdine (20-6)
2019 Series: Tied, 1-1 (Pep 3-0 @ Pep & BYU 3-1 @ BYU)
Live Video (Subscription):
https://mpsports.org/watch
Live Stats:
https://pepperdinewaves.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
BYU in the MPSF Tournament:
MPSF Championships: 7 (2018, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2004, 2003, 1999)
MPSF Semifinals All-Time: 9-8 (4th Consecutive appearance)
Pepperdine in the MPSF Tournament:
MPSF Championships: 4 (2008, 2005, 2002, 1998)
MPSF Semifinals All-Time: 9-5 (1st appearance since 2015, 5-0 at home, last at home in 2007)
Semifinal # 2---7:30 pm PT (Approx.)
No. 2 seed UCLA (19-8) vs. No. 3 seed USC (17-9)
2019 Series: Tied, 1-1 (UCLA 3-0 @ UCLA & USC 3-2 @ USC)
Live Video (Subscription):
https://mpsports.org/watch
Live Stats:
https://pepperdinewaves.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
USC in the MPSF Tournament:
MPSF Championships: 1 (2009)
MPSF Semifinals All-Time: 3-5
UCLA in the MPSF Tournament:
MPSF Championships: 7 (2006, 2001, 2000, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993)
MPSF Semifinals All-time: 9-2
MPSF Championship: Saturday, April 20 (7:00 pm PT)
Host: No. 1 seed Pepperdine
Firestone Fieldhouse (3,104); Malibu, Calif.
Live Video (Subscription):
https://mpsports.org/watch
Live Stats:
https://pepperdinewaves.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
MPSF QUARTERFINALS
Saturday, April 13
Quarterfinal 1-
at No. 2 seed UCLA 3, No. 7 seed Concordia 0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-17)
PDF Box Score
Recap by UCLA
The No. 2 seeded UCLA men's volleyball team advanced to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) semifinals with a straight set win over No. 7 seed Concordia on Saturday night in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Scores of the match were 25-21, 25-23, 25-17. Senior
Dylan Missry led the way for UCLA with 14 kills and four aces. Senior
Micah Ma'a also had four aces and became the school's all-time leader in single-season aces with 64 (old mark was held by Mark Williams, who had 63 in 2000).
The Bruins will meet No. 3 seed USC in the second MPSF semifinal match on Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse at Pepperdine. The top-seeded Waves will host No. 5 seed BYU in the opening semifinal match on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Malibu. The winners will meet at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 20 at Pepperdine to determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament. The bracket for the national tournament will be revealed on April 21 at 10 a.m. on ncaa.com.
In set one, Concordia opened up a 1-3 lead in the early stages. UCLA tied the score at 4 on ace from Ma'a. A kill by Missry lifted the Bruins into a 9-7 lead. Concordia evened the score at 12-all. A Missry ace put the Bruins in front 17-14. The Eagles rallied to close to within one at 21-20.
Daenan Gyimah answered with a kill for a 22-20 edge. Missry's sixth and seventh kills of the set took the Bruins to set point at 24-21. UCLA came away with the win after a ball handling error by the Eagles.
CUI moved out to a 2-6 advantage to start set two and pushed the margin to 12-18. A couple of
Brandon Rattray kills narrowed the gap to 14-18. A kill by Missry made it 17-21, but the Eagles scored the next two points. An
Adam Parks kill stopped the run and sent Missry to the service line. Seven serves later the Bruins had the win. Rattray's kill and a Missry ace made it 20-23. A block by Ma'a /
Grant Maleski followed by another ace from Missry and it was 22-23. A Ma'a kill leveled the score at 23-all. Missry and Ma'a putaways completed the comeback for a 25-23 Bruin win.
The Bruins grabbed a 4-2 edge to begin set three and worked the margin up to 11-7 after a ball handling error. A block by
Adam Parks /
Matt Younggrenpushed the Bruins in front 15-10. A Younggren kill made it 17-12. However, Concordia rallied with the next three points to slice the deficit to two. Ma'a responded with a kill, but CUI battled to made it 18-17. A service error and a kill by Ma'a helped UCLA to a 20-17 lead. Ma'a then took control from the service line with three-straight aces, including the school single-season record-setter, for a 23-17 advantage. Kills by Missry and Ma'a ended the match.
For the match, UCLA outhit CUI .316 to .220 to improve to 19-0 on the season when owning the better hitting percentage. UCLA registered nine aces to three for the Eagles and the home team held a slim margin at the nets 8.5 to 8.0 total blocks. The Bruins improved to 10-1 at home this season and 19-8 overall. It was the 12th time this season that Ma'a had recorded at least three aces in a match.
Quarterfinal 2-
at No. 3 seed USC 3, No. 6 seed Grand Canyon 0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-22)
PDF Box Score
Recap by USC
LOS ANGELES—Ryan Moss had 14 kills and 4 aces and Jack Wyett added 11 kills to lead the No. 5-ranked USC men’s volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-19, 25-22 sweep over No. 15 Grand Canyon in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament quarterfinal match on Saturday (April 13) in USC’s North Gym.
USC, which remained undefeated at home in 2019 (12-0), improved to 17-9 overall this season. The Trojans have won 10 of their last 12 matches. Grand Canyon finished the season with a 13-16 overall mark.
The Trojans now advance to an MPSF tourney semifinal match against No. 6 UCLA on Thursday (April 18) at 7:30 p.m. PT, hosted at Pepperdine. The MPSF tourney championship match will be at Pepperdine on Saturday (April 20).
The match was played in USC’s quaint North Gym, the original home of Trojan volleyball, because of a scheduling conflict in the Galen Center.
USC hit .397 in the match to Grand Canyon’s .278. The Trojans served 10 aces.
Moss and Wyett each hit .429. Moss also had a team-best 4 digs. Gianluca Grasso added 8 kills (hitting .417).
For GCU, Christian Janke had 8 kills, David Kisiel had 7 kills, Will Schwob had 6 kills (hitting .400) and Ian McLain had 3 blocks.
USC used a 4-point run to build a 20-16 lead in the first set and then the Trojans scored the set’s final 5 points while hitting .500 and serving 5 aces overall. USC turned a 5-3 deficit in the second set into a 10-6 lead and never surrendered it while getting 3 blocks and serving 3 more aces in the set. The Trojans had a late 4-point run to open a 22-20 edge in the third set and Grand Canyon could not recover.
Quarterfinal 3-
No. 5 seed BYU 3, at No. 4 seed Stanford 2 (18-25, 25-16, 26-24, 19-25, 16-14)
PDF Box Score
Recap by BYU
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Davide Gardini had 23 kills and a career-high five aces to lead the Cougars to a first-round win over Stanford (18-25, 25-16, 26-24, 19-25, 16-14) in the MPSF tournament on Saturday.
Gabi Garcia Fernandez and Felipe de Brito Ferreira joined Gardini in double figures with 18 and 14 kills, respectively. Andrew Lincoln had a team and career-high 13 digs, while Brody Earnest had 54 assists and a career-high five blocks.
The Cardinal opened the match with a 10-5 lead and maintained it throughout the first set. The Stanford lead grew to eight at one point, 20-12 on the team’s second ace of the night. The Cardinal went on to win the first set, 25-18 on a service error from the Cougars. Lincoln had a game-high six digs after one and Garcia Fernandez was tied for most kills with five.
The Cougars responded immediately in the second set, opening on a 6-0 run, capped off by their first ace by Garcia Fernandez. Gardini got back-to-back aces to extend the Cougar lead to seven, 10-3. De Brito Ferreira got his sixth kill to extend the lead to nine, 17-8 and force a Stanford timeout. Gardini’s third ace then put BYU up by 10, 19-9. Garcia Fernandez hit 10 kills late in the set and the Cougars took the second game, 25-16.
The third set was tightly contested, with the teams tied at seven early. The set was tied at 13 before three consecutive errors by the Cardinal put the Cougars up, 16-13. Gardini got his 10th kill, followed by his first block assist, to maintain the Cougar lead, 22-19. De Brito Ferreira then got his 10th kill and Gardini won the set for BYU on an attack, 26-24. Lincoln reached a new career high with 11 digs after the third set.
Gardini got his fifth ace early in the fourth set to reach his new career high. The teams were neck and neck once again, with Stanford holding a slim 10-8 lead. The Cardinal was able to maintain the lead and took the fourth set, 25-19, forcing a decisive fifth set. Garcia Fernandez and Gardini each had 17 kills after four.
BYU got out to a 10-6 lead in the fifth set and was able to hold it thanks to a series of Stanford errors, eventually taking the set and the match, 16-14, on a kill from Gardini.
The Cougars advance to the MPSF semifinals to take on one-seed Pepperdine on Thursday, Apr. 18 at 5 p.m. PDT in Malibu. Live streaming and stats will be on the schedule page.?