Stanford broke its slide, BYU got quick revenge and No. 2 UCLA won a big battle of top teams in Saturday’s NCAA men’s Division I-II action.
MPSF: Start with Stanford, which had lost four in a row. But the visiting Cardinal of the MPSF (2-8) beat UC San Diego of the Big West (7-3) 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21. Freshman Eric Beatty had a career-high 18 kills and hit .364 as hit team hit a season-best .339. Jaylen Jasper added 14 kills and hit .333 to go with two Stanford’s five aces. Kevin Rakestraw had 10 kills.
UCSD was led by Tanner Syfestad, who had 17 kills, hit .302 and had three of his team’s four aces, three blocks — one solo, and two digs.
No. 6 BYU, which lost to visiting UC Santa Barbara of the Big West on Friday, bounced back with a 25-23, 25-19, 25-20 victory. Gabi Garcia Fernandez led with 18 kills, hit .517 and had eight digs. Brenden Sander added 10 kills and four blocks and Andrew Lincoln had nine kills in 11 errorless swings. BYU is 6-4.
UCSB (4-4) got 10 kills from Keenan Sanders.
UCLA is 10-1 after winning at No. 4 UC Irvine of the Big West 25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 25-19. The Bruins hit .455 as four players had 13 or more kills. Christian Hessenauer led with 15, hit .400 and had five digs. JT Hatch had 14 kills and hit .500, Daenan Gyimah had 14 kills, hit .619 and two of his team’s four aces, and Dylan Missry had 13 kills and the other two aces.
UCI (10-2), which had won eight matches in a row, got 17 kills from Karl Apfelbach, who hit .333. His team hit .366, which included Joel Schneidemiller’s 12 kills while hitting .417.
Also in the MPSF, Pepperdine beat Princeton of the EIVA, USC went 0-for-2 on its Chicago trip by losing at Loyola of the MIVA and Grand Canyon beat McKendree of the MIVA.
No. 12 Pepperdine (4-2) won 25-20, 25-15, 27-25 as the Waves hit .365. David Wieczorek led with 15 kills and hit .650 to go with three aces and three blocks. Michael Wexter had eight kills, hit .727 and had an ace and a block.
Princeton (1-7) got seven kills from Parker Dixon.
No. 13 USC can’t catch a break. It was swept at Lewis on Friday, losing the first set 42-40. Saturday at No. 7 Loyola, the scores were 20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 31-29. Loyola (7-2) was led by Colin Mahan, who had 13 kills, four of his team’s 10 aces and seven digs. Will Tischler had 12 kills, two aces and eight digs. Ricky Gevis and Paul Narup had 10 kills each.
USC (3-7) lost its seventh in a row. Jack Wyett led the Trojans with 10 kills.
Tenth-ranked Grand Canyon (10-2) won at McKendree 17-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-17. Cullen Mosher led with 15 kills, an ace and a block. Luke Turner added 14 kills and a block.
McKendree (3-5) got 14 kills from Patrick Ross.
MIVA: Ohio State recorded its fourth sweep in a row as the No. 5 Buckeyes won at George Mason of the EIVA 25-16, 26-24, 25-18 behind 14 kills from Jake Hanes, who hit .458. He had three of Ohio State’s eight aces and five blocks. Nicolas Szerszen, who had four aces, and Maxime Hervoir had nine kills each. Mason (3-6) hit .015. Hayden Wagner had nine kills.
Ball State (5-4) won in four over Saint Francis of the EIVA (5-6) as Blake Reardon had 15 kills, two aces and nine digs to go with three blocks, one solo. Matt Walsh had nine kills. SFU hit .087. Brandon Buck led with 14 kills, 12 digs and two blocks.
In MIVA non-conference matches, Lindenwood (6-3) swept Lincoln Memorial and Quincy (8-3) did the same to Judson.
EIVA: No. 9 Penn State (5-2) earned it as it dealt visiting No. 15 Fort Wayne (8-1) of the EIVA its first loss of the season 30-28, 19-25, 29-27, 25-15. The Nittany Lions, who hit .393, were led by Jalen Penrose, who had 15 kills and five blocks. Matthew McLaren had 13 kills, hit .423 and had two of his team’s four aces to go with eight digs and three blocks, one solo. Kevin Gear added 12 kills and hit .500 to go with four blocks.
Fort Wayne’s Colton Stone had 14 kills and two aces and Pelegrin Vargas had 13 kills and four blocks.
NJIT beat Belmont Abbey of Conference Carolinas 25-23, 25-11, 25-16. NJIT is 2-7, while Belmont Abbey is 2-5. Alvara Gimeno had 12 kills and hit .333 to go with four blocks for NJIT, which hit .366. Liam Maxwell had 10 of his team’s 22 kills as Belmont Abbey hit .050.
Also in the EIVA, Charleston (4-1) swept Queens.
Big West: Third-ranked Hawai’i won an exhibition over the Canadian team Thompson Rivers 25-17, 25-16, 25-22 and No. 11 CSUN (6-3) won a non-league match over UC Santa Cruz 25-23, 25-19, 25-16 as the Matadors hit .481. Dimitar Kalchev led with 16 kills.
Conference Carolinas: There were three league matches as Mount Olive beat North Greenville, Barton swept Limestone and King swept Emmanuel.
Mount Olive (5-3) improved to 4-0 atop the conference with its 25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22 win. Robert Poole led with 17 kills, Bret Rutlege had 15, hit .440 and had two aces, and Brad Monaghan had 14 kills. North Greenville (5-6, 2-2) got 14 kills from Jackson Gilbert, who hit .385.
Barton (4-5, 4-0) beat Limestone 25-16, 25-23, 25-18 as it won its fourth in a row. Angelos Mandilaris led with 17 kills, hit .382, had five of his team’s seven aces and seven digs and three blocks. Limestone is 2-8, 0-3.
King is 7-2 and tied with Mount Olive at 4-0 after its 25-16, 25-18, 25-17 win over Emmanuel (2-6, 1-3). Kiel Bell had 13 kills and .346 to go with nine digs, an ace and two blocks for the winners. Teammate Jeff Sprayberry had 12 kills and hit .320 to go with two aces, six digs and two blocks. Emmanuel hit .110.
Also, Academy United, a men’s pro team, beat Lees-McRae in Hawai’i in an exhibition 25-19, 25-17, 25-9.
