NCAA men’s volleyball: UCLA, Hawai’i, Ball State win; SFU, Lincoln Memorial score upsets

PLEASE JOIN THE TEAM!
Keep free volleyball journalism free by becoming a VolleyballMag.com Sustaining Member:  https://volleyballmag.com/sustaining-membership/  
Or make a contribution through Venmo @VolleyballMag 

Top-ranked UCLA bounced back Saturday, Hawai’i and Ball State won, Saint Francis (PA) knocked off No. 13 Ohio State, independent Lincoln Memorial swept at No. 14 McKendree, and Joshua Kim had 24 kills as King won in five in a nonconference match at Charleston.

The recaps from Saturday follow, but first a look at Sunday’s five matches on the NCAA Division I-II men’s schedule.

Ohio State of the MIVA is at No. 3 Penn State of the EIVA. Penn State won at Ohio State on March 8, and with UCLA and No. 2 Long Beach State taking losses in the past week, the Nittany Lions, with a victory, could move into the top spot in the AVCA poll on Monday.

Also Sunday, Harvard of the EIVA is at No. 9 Grand Canyon of the MPSF, No. 11 Loyola Chicago of the MIVA is home for independent Daemen, Lindenwood of the MIVA is home for independent Limestone, and Quincy of the MIVA plays independent Lincoln Memorial.

Want to watch a match? We have you covered with all the viewing links at our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming listings.

UCLA (13-5, 5-1 MPSF) lost in five at Stanford (9-8, 1-3) on Friday, but came back for a 20-25, 25-13, 25-23, 27-25 victory at The Farm on Saturday. The Bruins hit .426 with 60 kills and 11 errors in 116 attacks. They had four aces — three by Kevin Kobrine — and 18 serving errors. Four Bruins had 10 kills or more, including Merrick McHenry, who had 17 kills, hit .625 after having three errors in 24 attacks and added two blocks and four digs. Ethan Champlin had 14 kills, hit . 440 and added an ace, three blocks and seven digs. Kobrine had 12 kills, hit .333, and had an assist, seven blocks and 11 digs. Alex Knight had 10 kills with no errors in 18 attacks, nine blocks and a dig. Miles Partain had a kill, 51 assists, no aces but five errors, two blocks and a dig.

Stanford, which hit .313, had four aces and 15 errors. Will Rottman led the Cardinal with 16 kills, eight digs and two blocks, one solo. Luke Turner had 14 kills, hit .417 and had an ace, a block and six digs. Ethan Hill and Kevin Lamp had nine kills each, and Nathan Lietzke had two kills, 46 assists and nine digs …

BYU (7-11, 2-4 MPSF) beat visiting Concordia Irvine 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 behind 19 kills by Davide Gardini, 15 by Miks Ramanis, and 14 by Kupono Browne. Gardini hit .385 and had two assists, an ace, three blocks and four digs. The Cougars hit .330 and had seven aces and 20 errors. CUI (8-8, 2-4 MPSF) hit .260 and had four aces and 14 errors. Erik Boisvert had 16 kills, hit .429 and added three digs and two blocks, one solo, in the loss …

The MPSF’s Grand Canyon (10-8) hit .403 and swept visiting Harvard (6-7) of the EIVA 25-20, 25-14, 25-22. The Lopes had four aces and 11 errors. Christian Janke led them with 15 kills as he hit .423 and had two assists, two aces and five digs. Heath Hughes had a kill, 30 assists, a solo block and nine digs. Harvard hit .237 and had two aces and 15 errors. Ethan Smith had nine kills in 14 errorless attacks and two blocks … 

The two Big West teams in action won non-conference matches in four. No. 4 Hawai’i (16-3) beat visiting No. 12 Lewis (10-8) of the MIVA 25-18, 27-29, 25-19, 26-24 despite hitting .231. The Rainbow Warriors got 16 kills from Chaz Galloway, who had two errors in 31 attacks to hit .452 and added an assist, 10 digs and two blocks, one solo. Spyros Chakas had 10 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and nine digs. Dimitrios Mouchlias had six kills, four aces, three blocks and five digs, and Jakob Thelle had three kills in six errorless tries, 31 assists, an ace, two blocks and nine digs. UH had eight aces and 18 errors. Lewis hit .149 and had eight aces and 21 errors. John Davis, who had 73 kills this season, had a career-high 23 while hitting .364 to go with an ace, two blocks and a career-high 19 digs. Tyler Mitchem added 11 kills, hit .348 and had two aces, four digs and five blocks, two solo … 

The other Big West team in action, UC Irvine (8-9), beat visiting George Mason (7-10) of the EIVA 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17 as Francesco Sani and Hilir Henno had 15 kills each. Sani had four aces, three blocks and seven digs. Henno hit .393 and had an assist, two aces, three blocks and six digs. Patrick Vorenkamp had two kills, 41 assists, two aces, five blocks and six digs. His team hit .255 and had 10 aces and 11 errors.

Mason, swept in the first two matches of its West Coast swing, hit .230 and had four aces and 19 errors. Richie Hoff had 13 kills, three aces, three blocks and seven digs. Omar Hoyos had 12 kills, two assists, two blocks and 11 digs, and Chey Copper had 10 kills, two assists, five blocks and eight digs. Troy McDonald had four kills, 39 assists, two blocks and nine digs … 

Joshua Blair had 14 kills in 20 errorless attacks as the EIVA’s Saint Francis (PA) improved to 12-6 with a 17-25, 25-20, 28-26, 25-22 victory over visiting Ohio State (9-8). It was just the third time in 34 tries that SFU beat Ohio State, the last in 2019. SFU hit .354 and had three aces and 19 errors. Blair also had two blocks and a dig. Blake Liprando had 13 kills, hit .367 and had a block, but no aces and five serving errors. Nathan Zini had 10 kills, an ace and four digs. AJ Schmidt had a kill, 46 assists, four digs and three blocks, one solo. Ohio State, which hit .331 and had two aces and 18 errors, got 17 kills from Jacob Pasteur and 15 each from Martin Lallemand and Samuel Clark. Pasteur, who had no aces and five errors, had an assist, nine digs and two blocks, one solo. Lallemand hit .464 and had an ace and four digs, and Clark hit .353 and had two assists, an ace, a block and nine digs. Parker Mikesch had 13 digs and three assists … 

Eighth-ranked Ball State (13-2) swept 25-16, 26-24, 25-19 at Princeton (5-11) of the EIVA. Ball State hit .376 and had 10 aces and 12 errors. Kaleb Jenness led the way with 14 kills and hit .522 to go with three aces and four digs. Angelos Mandilaris had 10 kills, hit .381 and had three aces, six digs and three blocks, one solo. Princeton, which hit .234 and had four aces and 10 errors, got 12 kills from Ben Harrington. He added two aces, a solo block and a dig …

Independent Lincoln Memorial 10-6) swept 25-23, 25-19, 25-22 at No. 14 McKendree (9-7) of the MIVA. The Railsplitters have wreaked havoc on MIVA teams this season, previously beating Purdue Fort Wayne, Loyola Chicago and, on January 29, also McKendree.

Lincoln Memorial hit .356 and had five aces — three by Jacob Titus — and only seven errors. Cole Campisano led with 13 kills as he hit .385 and had an ace, a block and four digs. Titus had 11 kills, hit .500 and added two blocks, one solo. Kohl Kutsch had three kills in four errorless tries, 35 assists, a block and eight digs. McKendree hit .245 and had three aces and eight errors. Patrick Ross had 18 kills, hit .389 and had an ace, a block and two digs. Ethan Carroll and Kevin Schuele had nine kills each … 

Purdue Fort Wayne (12-7) of the MIVA won 25-17, 25-22, 25-20 at the SIAC’s Central State (5-11). Eleven Mastodons had kills, including Rico Wardlow with eight. Wardlow also hit .600 and had an ace, a dig and four blocks, three solo. Cody Johnson had seven kills with one error in nine swings, a dig and five blocks, four solo. PFW hit .263 and had seven aces and 21 errors. Central State hit .000 …

Joshua Kim had 24 kills as King (9-9) of Conference Carolinas won 25-20, 17-25, 25-23, 22-25, 19-17 at Charleston (5-9) of the EIVA. Kim hit .333 and had an assist and 16 digs. Jackson Carroll had 16 kills, a block and eight digs. JT Deppe had 15 kills, two assists, two blocks and seven digs. Noah Melendez had 19 digs, a kill and three assists, and Jack Sarnowski had three kills, 58 assists, three blocks and six digs. His team hit .283 and had one ace and 10 errors. Charleston lost despite hitting .324. It had two aces and 15 errors. Four players had 10 kills or more, with 19 by Jake Vorburger, who hit .300 and had an ace, three blocks and nine digs. Diego Villafane had four kills in six errorless tries, 59 assists, seven digs and six blocks, one solo. Armari Williams had 14 digs and an assist … 

Emmanuel (8-8) of Conference Carolinas won 21-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-22 over Fort Valley State (2-9) of the SIAC. Gustavo Cavalcanti led Emmanuel with 19 kills, hit .469 and had two aces, four blocks and four digs. Eli Zdonek had 13 kills, an ace, two blocks and seven digs. Emmanuel hit .280 and had eight aces and 12 errors. Fort Valley hit .176 and had three aces and 16 errors. Jaxson Hicks led FVSU with 14 kills, an assist, three blocks and five digs. Jamil Scott had 12 kills, and Oshane Farguharson had 10.