Fifth-ranked UCLA won in four at No. 7 Loyola, top-ranked Long Beach State swept Lindenwood, No. 15 USC did the same to Princeton on Thursday in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
Friday has a chock-full schedule, especially in the powerful Big West.
Long Beach is back at Lindenwood where it plays Quincy of the MIVA.
Second-ranked Hawai’i, which hasn’t played since January 12, goes to No. 8 Stanford of the MPSF and then plays the Cardinal again on Sunday.
Fourth-ranked UC Irvine is at Grand Canyon of the MPSF where it first plays Charleston of the EIVA and then the home team.
No. 9 UC Santa Barbara plays host to No. 3 BYU of the MPSF, No. 12 CSUN entertains Princeton of the EIVA, and UC San Diego plays host to the MPSF’s Concordia.
Other MIVA teams in action include No. 10 Lewis home for the EIVA’s Penn State, No. 11 Ball State playing at Harvard of the EIVA, No. 14 Ohio State home for the EIVA’s Saint Francis, McKendree playing host to Lourdes, Purdue Fort Wayne at Sacred Heart of the EIVA, and Lindenwood home for Alderson Broaddus.
The EIVA slate also includes George Mason home for Coker of Conference Carolinas.
There are four Conference Carolinas matchups as King goes to Erskine, Mount Olive is at North Greenville, Barton plays at Limestone and Emmanuel is home for Lees-McRae. Also, Belmont Abbey plays Queens.
UCLA (7-2) won a hard-fought match at Loyola (6-3) 27-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23.
Daenan Gyimah led with 18 kills and hit .739 after having just one error in 23 attacks. He had no aces and seven serving errors, but added two digs and three blocks, one solo.
Brandon Rattray, who hit .333 and had seven digs and two blocks, and Dylan Missry had 11 kills each. Rattray had an assist and one of his team’s seven aces, while Missry had four assists, two aces, six digs and two blocks. Setter Micah Ma’a not only had 46 assists, but had eight kills in 11 swings with one error to hit .636 while adding three aces, seven digs and three blocks.
Loyola had nine aces, four by setter Garrett Zolg, who had three kills in four errorless swings to go with 34 assists, a dig and a block. Collin Mahan had 13 kills with one error in 23 attacks to hit .522 and added two aces, four digs and a solo block. Will Tischler had 10 kills but hit negative. He had four assists, two aces, three digs and a block. Luke Denton added nine kills, an assist, an ace, four digs and three blocks.
“(UCLA) is a really good team. They have some big physical guys and played pretty well for where they’re at and what they’ve been doing,” Loyola coach Mark Hulse said. “We’re coming along, making progress and making strides with some of the stuff we’re working on.”
Long Beach (8-0) cruised at Lindenwood of the MIVA (2-6) 25-19, 25-17, 25-19.
TJ DeFalco led a balanced attack with 13 kills. He hit .750 after just one error in 16 attacks and added three assists, two aces, two solo blocks and seven digs. Kyle Ensing had 11 kills, hit .421, and had an assist, two aces, a dig and a block.
Connor Hipelius and Nick Stevenson had seven kills each for Lindenwood …
USC of the MPSF (6-3) beat visiting Princeton of the EIVA (2-6) 25-22, 25-22, 25-21. Ryan Moss and Jack Wyett had 12 kills each for the Trojans. Wyett hit .647 after having one error in 17 swings and added two assists, three of USC’s four aces, five digs and three blocks, two solo. Moss had no errors in 19 attacks hitting .632 and added an assist, three digs and four blocks. Kendall Rattner had 12 kills for Princeton and hit .421 to go with three aces, while George Huhmann had 11 kills and hit .368.
And the MPSF’s Concordia (4-7) swept visiting UC Santa Cruz (6-6) 25-19, 25-17, 25-19.
Jordan Hoppe had 13 kills and hit .688 for Concordia. Hunter Howell had seven kills in as many swings. Zachary Meyer also had seven kills and hit .750 after making one error in eight attacks. Raymond Cascio led Santa Cruz with nine kills.
