Pep, UCLA Win Two; Barsemian Re-Writes CUI Records
Photo: JT Ardell, Pepperdine (Courtesy Pepperdine Athletics)
MPSF Men's Volleyball Weekly Release 7 (PDF)
DAENAN GYIMAH OF UCLA
MPSF/MOLTEN OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UCLA senior middle blocker Daenan Gyimah (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) was the picture of consistency, hitting .600 with a season-high- tying 14 kills in each MPSF win last week over Concordia and USC (Feb. 14-16). Gyimah has now hit at least .400 in six of the seven matches he has seen action in this season. His 18.5-point effort against USC tied his season-high. For the week, Gyimah hit .600 (28-4-40) while averaging 3.50 kills, 1.13 blocks, and 4.31 points per set. This is the sixth career MPSF weekly award for Gyimah (fourth on the offensive side).
Others Nominated: Ray Barsemian (BYU); Austin Wilmot (PEP)…
JT ARDELL OF PEPPERDINE
MPSF/MOLTEN DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Pepperdine redshirt freshman middle blocker JT Ardell (Glen Ellyn, IL) made the first two starts of his college career and totaled 16 blocks in eight sets (2.00 B/S) to help the Waves to a pair of MPSF home wins over Concordia and USC (Feb. 12-14). Ardell’s seven blocks helped Pepperdine rally from a 2-0 deficit to beat Concordia, before he added a career-high nine in the three-set win over USC. The nine blocks were the second-highest in the MPSF this year. This is the first career MPSF award for Ardell.
Others Nominated: Mads Kyed Jensen (UCLA); Brandon Oberender (BYU)…
PEP, UCLA WIN TWO; BARSEMIAN DELIVERS CUI RECORD BOOK NIGHT
No. 6 PEPPERDINE (3-1 MPSF/6-3 Overall) picked up a reverse sweep in its MPSF home opener against Concordia (Feb. 12)…Noah Dyer had a career-high 18 kills with an efficient .417 clip, to go with 11 digs for a double-double…Alex Gettinger and Austin Wilmot (.379) each added 16 kills…Joe Karlous recorded his first career double-double on 59 assists and 11 digs, while setting the Waves to a .319 clip…The Waves then posted a 3-0 home win over USC (Feb. 14), as Jacob Steele hit .524 (12-1-21) and picked up eight digs, while JT Ardell had a career-high nine blocks…Ardell totaled 16 blocks for the week (2.00 B/S)…Pepperdine visits UCSB Friday (Feb. 21), before a Sunday (Feb. 23) conference match at Grand Canyon.
No. 8 UCLA (2-2 MPSF/7-5 Overall) Cole Ketrzynski equaled his career-best 17 kills in a four-set MPSF road win at Concordia (Feb. 14)...Daenan Gyimah registered a season-high-tying 14 kills, hitting .600…Matt Younggren served a career-best four aces and added five blocks…
Cole Power had a career-best 13 digs…In Sunday’s (Feb. 16) 3-1 home win over USC, Gyimah repeated the same offensive stats from the CUI match (14-2-20, .600), along with a match-high six blocks…Mads Kyed Jensen set career-highs vs. USC in aces (4) and blocks (5), and well as digs vs. CUI (9)…UCLA hosts No. 3 UCSB Wednesday (Feb. 19), before MPSF resumes at Grand Canyon Friday (Feb. 21).
No. RV CONCORDIA (1-2 MPSF/6-8 Overall) Ray Barsemian tied the 2020 MPSF-high 28 kills (.302), while setting the outright high of 31.5 points in the five-set match at Pepperdine (Feb. 12)…The 28 kills and 31.5 points rank second and tied for first in school history respectively…He became CUI’s all-time kill leader in the process (743)…CUI won two sets off Pepperdine for the first time ever…The Eagles then battled in four sets with No. 8 UCLA, as Barsemian tied the all-time CUI career ace record (53) and Christian Oviedo tied the single-match record in a four-set match with five aces…Concordia travels to BYU and Stanford this week.
No. 2 BYU (3-0 MPSF/13-0 Overall) won a three-set MPSF road contest at Grand Canyon (Feb. 14) in a battle at the top of the standings…Along with Hawaii, BYU remains one of two undefeated teams in the nation…Winning their first 13 matches of the season, the Cougars are off to their second-best start in program history…Zach Eschenberg led BYU with 10 kills (.333)…Alex Ah Sue had a team-high hitting percentage of .438 with a season-high nine kills… Branden Oberender totaled six blocks to match his career-high…BYU hosts Concordia (Feb. 20) and USC (Feb. 22) this week, both televised on BYUtv.
No. 13 GRAND CANYON (2-1 MPSF/10-3 Overall) defeated Ottawa (AZ) in four sets at home (Feb. 15)…The Antelopes continue their homestand with UCLA Friday (Feb. 21) and Pepperdine Sunday (Feb. 23) in a pair of MPSF matches…Ian McLain leads the MPSF in hitting percentage (.524).
No. 12 STANFORD (1-2 MPSF/5-7 Overall) Jaylen Jasper had a team-high 10 kills each night in the two-match home series against No. 1 Hawaii (Feb. 14-15)…Stephen Moye hit .545 in the second match (7-1-11)…Stanford hosts USC Thursday (Feb. 20, 7 pm—Pac-12 Networks)) and Concordia Saturday (Feb. 22, 6 pm) as MPSF resumes.
USC (0-4 MPSF/2-11 Overall) Sam Lewis (.455) and Brandon Browning (nine digs) each had eight kills at UCLA…Kyle Gear hit .533 with nine kills and Cole Paxson had a match-high 12 digs at Pepperdine…USC travels to Stanford (Feb. 20) and BYU (Feb. 22) this week.