Hawai’i bounced back in a big way in its Big West match against Long Beach State, Loyola Chicago was upset in the MIVA, and Ohio State pulled off a reverse sweep to even the MIVA score with Ball State in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball on Saturday.
It was business as usual for Penn State and UCLA, which recorded sweeps, and Daemen of the NEC got a big win at the Big West’s CSUN as Zach Schneider had 26 kills.
On Friday night, fourth-ranked Long Beach State swept at No. 1 Hawai’i in their Big West showdown. Saturday night, Hawai’i (18-2, 1-1) responded with a 25-16, 25-23, 25-23 sweep of its own. The Rainbow Warriors hit .385 with 36 kills and six errors in 78 attacks. Chaz Galloway led with 11 kills and he hit .429 after having two errors in 21 attacks to go with three assists, an ace, two blocks and four digs. Spyros Chakas, who hit negative the night before, had 10 kills, hit .348 and had an ace, four digs and six blocks, one solo. Dimitrios Mouchlias had eight kills, hit .350 and had a block and six digs. Jakob Thelle had a kill, 25 assists, three aces, four blocks and six digs.Â
Long Beach State (12-3, 3-1) got 14 kills from Spencer Olivier, who hit .417 and had an ace and eight digs. Clarke Godbold had 11 kills, hit .348, and had two aces, a block and eight digs. Long Beach hit .247 and had five aces and 16 serving errors. Hawai’i had five aces and 11 errors. The next time the teams should meet will likely be in the Big West Championship, set for UC Irvine April 20-22. Last year, Hawai’i beat Long Beach in the national-championship match …Â
Also in the Big West, CSUN (12-7) got knocked off by the NEC’s Daemen (12-3), the surprise team of the Northeast this season. Zach Schneider led CSUN with 26 kills, hit .488 and added two assists and for digs in the 25-19, 25-21, 19-25, 22-25, 15-12 victory. Cameron Milligan had 14 kills, two assists, seven digs and two solo blocks. Griffin Walters had 20 kills for CSUN to go with an ace, nine digs and three blocks. Kyle Hobus had 17 kills, an assist, 11 digs and a solo block …Â
No. 2 Penn State (18-2) swept its match with visiting Saint Francis (PA) (6-11) of the NED despite hitting .244 in the 27-25, 25-22, 25-14 victory. Cal Fisher led with 11 kills, an assist, two aces, three blocks and 10 digs. Penn State had six aces and 20 errors. Saint Francis hit .084 and had three aces and 18 errors … also in the EIVA, George Mason (9-9) cruised to a 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 win over visiting Fairleigh Dickinson (4-12) of the NEC. Omar Hoyos, who had two asssists, two aces, four blocks and four digs, and Liam Friend had nine kills each …Â
In the only MPSF match of the day, third-ranked UCLA (21-2, 6-0)Â rolled to a 25-18, 25-21, 25-20 victory at No. 10 Stanford (9-10, 2-4). The Bruins, beating Satruday for the second straight day, got 10 kills from Merrick McHenry, who had three of his team’s 11 aces, four digs and a block. Theo Snoey had 11 kills for Stanford …Â
The MIVA was anything but boring on Saturday. Purdue Fort Wayne (13-9, 4-4) handed visiting No. 9 Loyola Chicago (17-3, 8-1) its first conference loss 25-18, 27-25, 23-25, 20-25, 15-12. The Mastodons only hit .216, but got 19 kills from Jon Diedrich and 14 from Bryce Walker. Sergio Carrillo had three kills in four errorless tries, 40 assists, 11 digs and six blocks, one solo. Loyola, which had won 10 matches in a row, hit .220. The Ramblers got 19 kills each from Cole Schlothauer, who had seven blocks and eight digs, and Parker Van Buren, who had an ace, five blocks and 11 digs. Dan Mangun had a kill, 48 assists, two aces, four blocks and six digs …Â
No. 12 Ball State (12-8, 5-3) swept visiting No. 15 Ohio State (12-9, 5-3) in their MIVA match this past Wednesday. Saturday it seemed like it was going to happen again, but the Buckeyes bounced back for a 23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 26-24, 15-12 reverse-sweep victory. Shane Wetzel led Ohio State with 19 kills, an assist, six aces, three blocks and five digs. Jacob Pasteur had 18 kills, hit .395, and added an assist, two aces, two blocks and seven digs. Jack Stevens had 12 kills, two assists, two blocks and seven digs. Michael Wright had two kills in four errorless tries, 57 assists, two blocks and six digs. His team hit .361 and had 10 aces and 27 errors, five of which were his. Ball State hit .230 and had seven aces and 12 errors. Kaleb Jenness had 16 kills, an assist, three blocks and seven digs, and Tinaishe Ndavazocheva had 14 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and two digs …Â
Also in the MIVA Lindenwood (9-7, 6-2) swept visiting Quincy (7-13, 0-8) as four players had six or more kills … and Lewis (13-9, 4-4) swept visiting McKendree (6-10, 1-8) as Christian Prayer had 13 kills …Â
There were three Conference Carolinas matches. Erskine (12-9, 7-3) beat visiting Barton (3-13, 3-6) in four as Kacper Rybarczyk had 21 kills and hit .515 to go with two aces and five digs … Belmont Abbey (10-12, 5-4) swept visiting Lees-McRae (8-9, 4-3) behind 14 kills from Matteo Miselli, who had two assists, two aces, three digs and a solo block …Â
Merrimack (8-9, 2-4) won its NEC match against visiting Sacred Heart (5-8, 3-3) as Miles Dewhirst had 14 kills with one error in 22 attacks to hit .591 and added four of his team’s six aces to go with six digs and two solo blocks. Mark Berry had 15 kills for Sacred Heart … Three other NEC teams won as St. Francis Brooklyn beat Randolph-Macon in four and swept Kean … D’Youville beat Elmira in four … LIU swept American International … Mount Olive (7-12, 3-6) won in four at Emmanuel (7-14, 2-7) as Hayden Frear had 15 kills, an assist, 15 digs and two blocks. Jayden Young had 21 kills for Emmanuel …Â
Benedict (7-5, 3-3) won its SIAC match over visiting Morehouse (0-12 0-4) behind 12 kills by Ras Jesse Delancy, who had two assists, two aces and two solo blocks … Central State swept Thomas More as four players had nine or more kills … Fort Valley State got swept by independent Lincoln Memorial, which hit .591. Cole Campisano had 12 kills with no errors in as many tries and Shay Spadaro had 11 kills in 12 errorless attacks …Â
Two other independents won as Limestone swept Reinhardt and Alderson Broaddus swept Carlow.Â
Little typo: St. Francis of the NED should be NEC.