In NCAA men’s volleyball action, UC San Diego downed another ranked opponent Tuesday night, beating No. T-13 Princeton in four, and once again Kyle McCauley led the way.
The Tritons, currently ranked 15th, are now 7-2 to start the season for just the second time in program history.
In Tuesday’s other matches, Erskine of Conference Carolinas swept St. Andrews of the NAIA and Queens got past North Greenville of Conference Carolinas in four.
There are just two matches on the Wednesday schedule. The MPSF’s Grand Canyon plays a non-conference match when Benedictine Mesa visits, and Limestone of the Conference Carolinas does the same against St. Andrews.
To watch any match that is being streamed or broadcast, go to the VolleyballMag.com TV listings.
AVCA Poll: Hawai’i (14 first-place votes), BYU (two votes), UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State, and UC Irvine stayed 1 through 5 in this week’s AVCA Division I-II Men’s Poll.
Penn State made the jump from 10th to No. 7, while UC San Diego entered at No. 15, while Loyola dropped out.
Click here for the complete AVCA top 15.
Recaps: Kyle McCauley tied his career-high with 21 kills in UC San Diego’s (7-2) four-set victory (23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-19) over Princeton (2-4). Middle Logan Clark set a personal best of his own with eight blocks (one solo).
Wyatt Harrison added 14 kills and Shane Benetz had 10. Sophomore Charlie Siragusa collected seven kills with zero errors to hit .700.
Setter Connor Walbrecht led a very efficient offense all around, quarterbacking the Tritons to their best match hitting percentage since January 2018 (.406).
On the Princeton side, sophomore Jerod Nelsen set a career-high with 20 kills, hitting .378.
Tristan Santoyo racked up 25 kills to lead Queens (3-4) to a 25-14, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23 triumph over North Greenville (3-2). The junior outside hitter had just two errors on 37 swings to hit .622, adding nine digs.
Queens’ second- and third-most productive offensive players, JP Payne and Brandon Grabow, both also hit above .600, with the team averaging .274 for the match.
North Greenville out-blocked Queens 13 to seven and was led by Jackson Gilbert with 16 kills.
Erskine improved to 2-4 with a sweep of St. Andrews (1-3). Jacob Whyte led Erskine with 11 kills, hitting .300, and setter Francisco Pomar set the match-high with 24 assists.
There were no matches Monday, but on Sunday there were five, including Penn State’s five-set win over USC and UCLA’s four-set victory over Ohio State, the Buckeyes’ first defeat of the season.
Penn State of the EIVA (4-2) beat visiting USC of the MPSF (1-6) 23-25, 29-27, 27-29, 25-23, 15-12 as the Nittany Lions hit .371. USC actually hit .381, but while the Trojans had nine aces, they had 26 errors. Penn State had seven aces and 15 errors.
Brett Wildman led with 19 kills and hit .486. He had two of those aces, a block and a dig. Calvin Mende had 17 kills, hit .452, and had three aces, seven digs and six blocks, one solo. Bobby Wilden had 11 kills, hit .421, and had an ace, four blocks and three digs, while Jason Donorovich had nine kills, hit .471, and had an ace, two digs and nine blocks. Setter Cole Bogner had 53 assists, four blocks and six digs.
Kyle Gear led USC with 19 kills and hit .375. He had two aces and seven digs. Michael O’Toole had 14 kills, two aces and six digs. Adam Flood had 13 kills, hit .458, had two aces, and had four blocks and nine digs …
Also at Penn State, UCLA of the MPSF (4-2) beat Ohio State of the MIVA (7-1) 25-16, 24-26, 25-16, 25-17. The Bruins hit .489 and had 13 aces against 19 errors. Ohio State hit .271 and had just one ace and 13 errors.
Cole Ketrzynski had 17 kills and hit .400 for UCLA to go with three blocks and five digs. Alex Knight had 13 kills, hit .478, and had three aces, a block and four digs. Austin Matautia had 10 kills, hit .412, and had three aces, four blocks and seven digs. Setter Mads Kyed Jensen had eight kills in 10 errorless attempts, 36 assists, four aces and five digs.
Ohio State’s Tim Baldwin led with 12 kills and hit .500. He had three blocks and nine digs. Reese Devilbiss had nine kills and Martin Lallemand had eight kills and three blocks …
Grand Canyon of the MPSF (6-2) swept Quincy of the MIVA (2-6) as nine players had kills, six by David Kisiel … McKendree of the MIVA (4-4) swept Lees-McRae of Conference Carolinas (0-4) as Patrick Ross had 10 kills …
And Division II independent Daemen (1-3) got the first victory in program history with a sweep of D’Youville, a Division III team playing its season opener.
POWs: NJIT’s Roque Nido is not only the EIVA offensive player of the week, but he’s also the AVCA national POW. Penn State’s Calvin Mende took the defensive honor …
BYU took both player-of-the-week honors in the MPSF as Gabi Garcia Fernandez was named the top offensive player and teammate Wil Stanley is the defensive player …
In the MIVA, Pelegrin Vargas of Purdue Fort Wayne is the offensive POW for the second straight week, while Ohio State’s Tim Baldwin took the defensive honor …
The Big West POW is UC San Diego’s Wyatt Harrison. The defensive honor went to teammate Ryan Lew, while Hawai’i’s Chaz Galloway is the freshman of the week …
And in Conference Carolinas, the player of the week is Angelos Mandilaris of Barton.
