The first-week schedule remains light, but the result was heavy for previously winless Lincoln Memorial as the Railsplitters pulled off the biggest victory in program history with a five-set win at UC Santa Barbara on Friday.
Lincoln Memorial is a tiny independent from Tennessee that made waves in men’s college volleyball in 2022 as it got 20 wins, including an early season upset of Loyola, while UCSB is ranked No. 7 in the AVCA preseason coaches poll.
Friday numbers of note: In Grand Canyon’s four-set win over Lindenwood, Lindenwood won the second set 37-35 and for the match had three aces and 30 serving errors, 10 in that third set. The line of the night went to UC Irvine’s Francesco, who had 22 kills and hit .588 in a four-set win over Lewis, and UCLA hit .484 in a sweep of UC San Diego.
Friday’s recaps and top performances follow, but first at look ahead.
There are 13 more matches Saturday involving Division I-II NCAA teams, including Penn State at Ohio State, Lewis at BYU and UCLA at Santa Barbara.
Also on tap are Lincoln Memorial against CSUN, UC Irvine vs. McKendree, NJIT vs. Purdue Fort Wayne and Saint Francis at Stanford. Not all are being streamed or televised but If it’s being shown, we have the viewing links in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
Lincoln Memorial, which was swept by Pepperdine on Wednesday and then lost in five on Thursday to UC San Diego, bounced back and stunned the home team 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-12. Shay Spadaro, a freshman outside from Orland, Florida, continued his strong start with 18 kills while hitting .484. He had three errors in 31 attacks and two digs, but no aces and six serving errors.
Against Pepperdine, Spadaro had 10 kills and hit .368 and against UCSD had 18 kills while hitting .484 with one error in 24 attacks.
Teammate Matthew Gentry had 12 kills with one error in 21 swings against UCSB and Kohl Kutsch had three kills, 48 assists, five blocks and six digs. His team his .299 and had five aces and 21 errors.
UCSB, which opened with a four-set win Thursday over USC, hit .326 and had two aces and 16 errors. Ryan Wilcox led with 15 kills, an assist, both of those aces, a block and six digs. Nick Amoruso had 13 kills, hit .370 and had three blocks and seven digs. Donovan Todorov had 11 kills with on error in 14 attacks and Brandon Hicks had 10 kills with two errors in 15 attacks. Jack Walmer had three kills in five errorless tries, 50 assists and 11 digs …
Also at UCSB, USC rebounded by sweeping CSUN 25-22, 28-26, 25-20. Kevin Kobrine had nine kills, two assists, two aces, a block and two digs. Simon Gallas had nine kills and three blocks. The Trojans hit just .150 and had three aces and 15 assists. CSUN hit .111 and had two aces and 18 errors. Kyle Hobus had 11 kills, two aces, three digs and two blocks, one solo …
And in the early match in Santa Barbara, UCLA swept UC San Diego 25-18, 25-16, 25-14. Cole Ketrzynski led the Bruins with nine kills and hit .412. He had two aces, three blocks and a dig. UCLA hit .377 and had 18 aces and 16 errors. Andrew Rowan had a kill in his only try, 24 assists, six of those aces and tjhree digs. Ryan Ka led UCSD a balanced attack with eight kills but had nine errors. UCSD hit .121 and had two aces and 13 errors. …
Central State surprisingly took a set but lost 25-15, 24-26, 25-19, 25-12 at Penn State in the season opener for the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions. Michael Valenzi led with 13 kills, three assists, six digs and two blocks, one solo. Owen Rose had 11 kills with no errors in 14 attacks and seven blocks, one solo. Penn State hit .272 and had nine aces — three by Michal Kowal — and 15 errors. Central State hit .086 and had three aces and 14 errors …
Francesco Sani had 22 kills with two errors in 34 attacks and hit .588 as UC Irvine beat Lewis 26-28, 28-26, 25-22, 25-23 at BYU in the season opener for both teams. Sani added an assist, two blocks and four digs. Hilir Henno had 18 kills, hit .452 and had three assists, all five of his team’s aces, two blocks and four digs. Cole Gillis had 12 kills, hit .385 and had two assist, a block and two digs. UCI, which had 19 errors, hit .412. Lewis lost despite hitting .423. The Flyers had four aces and 23 errors. Max Roquet had 17 kills and hit .419 but had no aces and seven of those errors to go with two blocks and eight digs. John Davis had 13 kills, an assist, an ace and six errors to go with two blocks and three digs …
Also at BYU, the home team opened the season by sweeping McKendree 25-20, 25-21, 25-20. BYU hit .286 and had five aces and 17 errors. Miks Ramanis had 10 kills, an ace, six digs and four blocks. McKendree hit .158 and had two aces and 22 errors. Kevin Schuele had 13 kills, hit .417 and an assist, an ace, four digs and two blocks …
Stanford battled to a 25-16, 25-16, 21-25, 25-22 season-opening win over visiting Saint Francis (PA). Will Rottman picked up where he left off last season and had 15 kills, hit .462 and had two assists, four of his team’s 10 aces and four digs. Theo Snoey had 13 kills, hit .458 and added two assists, three blocks and six digs. Stanford hit .347 and had had 22 serving errors. SFU hit .260, had one ace and 22 errors, and got 10 kills each from Nathan Zini and Brady Stump …
Grand Canyon beat visiting Lindenwood in four in the season opener for both teams. GCU hit .340 and had four aces and 11 errors in the 25-21, 25-15, 35-37, 25-13 victory. Christian Janke had 14 kills, Jackson Hickman 12 and Rico Wardlow 11. Wardlow had no errors in 15 attacks and four blocks, one solo. Nicholas Slight had four kills, 36 assists, two aces, 11 digs and two blocks, one solo. Lindenwood hit .250 and had three aces and 30 errors. Kadin Warner had 16 kills, hit .520 and had a block and a dig …
Among the other results, Belmont Abbey swept Eastern Nazarene, which was also swept by Fairleigh Dickinson. Belmont Abbey in turn was swept by St. Francis Brooklyn. King swept Purdue Fort Wayne and Erskine swept Tusculum.
