Men’s volleyball: History in Texas, EIVA openers, upsets for Concordia, USCB

There was some NCAA men’s volleyball history made Friday in Texas. Also, Penn State, St. Francis Brooklyn and Saint Francis (PA) won their EIVA openers, Concordia and UC Santa Barbara pulled off upsets, and Ball State is undefeated no more.

The recaps follow, but first a look at Saturday’s schedule.

There are two more matches in Austin for the First Point Challenge that brought NCAA men’s volleyball to Texas for the first time. After Fairleigh Dickinson and Queens play, No. 1 Hawai’i of the Big West takes on No. 14 Stanford of the MPSF.

Three other ranked MPSF teams are also in action Saturday — No. 4 UCLA plays No. 15 UC Irvine of the Big West, No. 8 Grand Canyon plays No. 6 Lewis of the MIVA, and No. 9 BYU plays No. 10 Ball State of the MIVA.

The EIVA has three more conference matches — No. 5 Penn State plays host to George Mason, St. Francis Brooklyn goes to Charleston, and Princeton plays at Saint Francis (PA). Also, Harvard takes on the MIVA’s Purdue Fort Wayne, and NJIT plays independent LIU.

Also in the MIVA, Lindenwood is home for Maryville. No. 12 Ohio State’s match with Mount Olive of Conference Carolinas was canceled.

In Conference Carolinas, a league match between King and Lees-McRae was postponed. Also, Erskine faces Tusculum, North Greenville plays the SIAC’s Edward Waters, and Emmanuel plays independent Lincoln Memorial. 

Also in the SIAC, Morehouse will play the first match in program history when it takes on Webber International. Central State’s match at Loyola Chicago of the MIVA was canceled.

Want to watch a match? We have the viewing links in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.

The EIVA was the first league to play conference matches, and Penn State (6-3) beat down visiting Princeton 25-18, 25-22, 25-7. Penn State, which hit .300 and had seven aces and 12 errors, got nine kills from Brett Wildman, who hit .333 and had an assist, three digs, and four blocks. Cal Fisher had eight kills, hit .375, and added two assists, two aces, two blocks, and four digs. Sam Marsh had five kills with one error in seven attacks and three blocks. Princeton (1-6) had one ace and 14 errors and hit .016. James Hartley had nine kills, two blocks, and six digs … 

St. Francis Brooklyn (3-1) won in five at Charleston (1-2) behind 19 kills from Andrea Lancianese, who hit .432 after having three errors in 37 attacks. He added an assist, an ace, six digs and a block. David Vorfi had 14 kills, five digs and three solo blocks. St. Francis hit .232 and had four aces and 20 errors. Charleston hit .256 and had four aces and 16 errors. Lachlan Brady led with 23 kills, hit .474 and added an ace and six digs … Saint Francis, Pa., (4-4) swept visiting George Mason (3-3). SFU, which hit .386 and had five aces and 18 errors, got 13 kills from Blake Liprando. He hit .458 and had an ace and seven digs. Joshua Blair had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks, three digs, and a block. Mason hit .226 and had three aces — two by Chey Cooper — and 14 errors. Jack Bolz led with 17 kills while hitting .483 to go with an ace and four digs … Also in the EIVA, Purdue Fort Wayne (5-4) won in four at Sacred Heart (3-1) of the EIVA. Jon Diedrich had 16 kills for PFW and hit .303, with an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 10 digs. Bryce Walker had 10 kills, hit .444, and had four aces, four blocks, and a dig. The Mastodons hit .241 and had 11 aces and 11 errors. Sacred Heart hit .165 and had six aces and 14 errors. Patrick Mucherino led with 17 kills, two assists, three blocks, and four digs … NJIT swept independent LIU (3-6)…

There were three matches in Austin as top-ranked Hawai’i swept independents Fairleigh Dickinson and Queens, and Stanford swept FDU. 

Hawai’i (6-2) of the Big West lost twice at Ball State to start this trip and played without setter Jakob Thelle and middle Guilherme Voss. But it is a different team with both back on the court. Against FDU, Thelle had five kills with one error in seven swings, 27 assists, four aces, a block, and three digs. Spyros Chakas had 11 kills, two assists, three aces, and five digs. The Rainbow Warriors hit .403 and had eight aces and eight errors. First-year program FDU hit .038 and had no aces and nine errors … In the second match, Stanford (6-2) of the MPSF dropped FDU to 0-4. Kevin Lamp had 11 kills, hit .368, and had an ace, a block, and a dig. Will Rottman had nine kills in 18 errorless swings, an assist, a block, and eight digs. Stanford hit .472 and had three aces and 17 errors. FDU hit .038 and had three aces, nine errors and no blocks … In the last match of the day, Hawai’i routed Queens (4-4), which hit minus .016 and had two aces and nine errors. Hawai’i hit .371 and had 17 aces with just three errors. Dimitrios Mouchlias had 11 kills in 14 errorless attacks and four blocks, and Voss had six kills in nine errorless attacks, an ace, six blocks, and three digs. Chakas had six kills, seven aces, two blocks, and three digs, and Thelle had five aces … 

No. 11 UC Santa Barbara (4-3) of the Big West beat previously unbeaten and No. 2 Pepperdine (4-1) of the MPSF 26-24, 25-19, 23-25, 25-15. The Gauchos, who hit .296 and had five aces and 16 errors, got 15 kills from Ryan Wilcox. He also had four assists, seven digs, and six blocks, one solo. Nick Amoruso had 12 kills, three aces, five digs, and seven blocks, one solo. Brandon Hicks had six kills and six blocks, one solo. Conor Dunn had two kills in three errorless attempts, 37 assists, four digs, and four blocks. Pepperdine hit .195 and had one ace and 17 errors. Jacob Steele led with 17 kills an ace, four digs, and a block. Spencer Wickens had 15 kills, an assist, five digs, and a solo block …

Concordia (5-0) of the MPSF won 25-22, 18-25, 26-24, 25-20 at No. 13 UC San Diego (3-4) of the Big West. Jonathan Carlson led Concordia with 17 kills and hit .441 to go with three assists, an ace, and 10 digs. Uriel Batista had 15 kills, an ace, a block, and seven digs. Erik Boisvert had 11 kills, hit .348, and had two aces, three blocks, and nine digs. Concordia hit .350 and had four aces and 18 errors. UCSD hit .319 and had two aces and eight errors. Ryan Ka led with 18 kills as he hit .405 and had an assist, a block, and a dig. Wyatt Harrison had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, and seven digs … 

No. 9 BYU (5-2) of the MPSF went the distance to beat visiting No. 10 Ball State (5-1) of the MIVA 30-32, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-10. BYU, which hit .323 and had seven aces and 20 errors, got 19 kills from Miks Ramanis. He hit .361 and had three assists, three blocks and six digs. Davide Gardini had 13 kills, four assists, two aces, two blocks, and 14 digs. Kupono Browne had 11 kills with one error in 20 attacks, three blocks, and two digs. Zeo Meyer had six kills, 49 assists, three aces, and nine digs. Kaleb Jenness had 24 kills for Ball State, hit .311 and added four digs and three blocks, one solo. Vanis Buckholz and Dyer Ball had 11 kills each. Ball State hit .319 and had four aces and 23 errors. Quinn Isaacson had 61 assists, an ace, four blocks, and nine digs … 

Alex Nikolov had 24 kills as third-ranked Long Beach State (6-1) of the Big West beat visiting No. 7 USC (8-2) of the MPSF 15-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-19. Nikolov had four errors in 42 attacks and hit .476, with an assist, three aces, two blocks, and two digs. Spencer Olivier had 12 kills, hit .429, and had an assist, an ace, and 10 digs. Long Beach hit .356 and had six aces and 14 errors. Simon Gallas led USC with 17 kills, hit .500 and had two ace, two blocks, and four digs. Lucas Frassran had 11 kills, hit .529, and had two aces, two blocks, and two digs. USC hit .388 and had six aces and 19 errors …

UCLA (5-1) of the MPSF won 21-25, 25-14, 25-22, 26-24 at UC Irvine (3-6) of the Big West. David Ido led with 19 kills and hit .500 to go with two aces and a block. Grant Sloane had 16 kills, hit .345, and had four digs and three blocks. Merrick McHenry had 13 kills, hit .526, and had four digs and three blocks. UCLA hit .416 and had two aces and 19 errors. UCI hit .226 and had eight aces and 13 errors. Francesco Sani led with 13 kills as he hit .323 and had two aces, three digs, and two blocks … 

Grand Canyon (6-2) of the MPSF swept at Loyola Chicago (4-5) of the MIVA as the Lopes hit .386 and had six aces with eight errors. Christian Jake and Hugo Fischer had 12 kills each. and Camden Gianni had 10. Jake hit .381 and had two assists, three blocks, and four digs. Fischer hit .429 and had an assist, two aces, three digs, and three blocks, one solo. Gianni had three aces, a block, and five digs. Parker Van Buren had 15 kills for Loyola and hit .379 to go with an assist, an ace, and four digs. The Ramblers hit .263 and had three aces and nine errors … 

CSUN (2-1) of the Big West beat UC Merced (1-1) in four …

Also in the MIVA, Quincy went five to beat GrandView College, and McKendree swept Maryville. Lewis’ match with Central State of the SIAC was canceled …

In Conference Carolinas, Belmont Abbey swept the SIAC’s Benedict, Erskine was swept at independent Lincoln Memorial, and King lost in four at independent Limestone.

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