NCAA men’s volleyball: Top-ranked teams all win on an upset-free Saturday

UCLA mined more MPSF gold in the desert with a sweep of Grand Canyon and other highly ranked teams continued to get rich on a Saturday in Division I-II NCAA men’s volleyball that maintained the status quo.

Hawai’i, Penn State, Long Beach State and UC Irvine had little trouble padding their victory totals in their respective conferences. The MIVA saw some hair-raising moments but no upsets.

In a matchup of programs ranked among the top six in the AVCA poll, No. 2 UCLA (23-2, 8-0 MPSF) again displayed its dominance over Grand Canyon, tied for fifth nationally, after a contentious initial set. On Friday in Phoenix, the Bruins dropped the opener, the first set they had lost in MPSF play this season. On the second night of the back-to-back series, a crowd of 1,563 watched the host Lopes (21-4, 6-4) push UCLA to overtime in the first before surrendering in three 30-28, 25-21, 25-19.

Grand Canyon Coach Matt Werle candidly commented after Friday’s four-set defeat that his team “lost all fight and all will” after falling short in the second set and, “It seemed like we kind of gave up.”

The next night produced a similar scenario. UCLA ripped a robust .448 overall with just nine attack errors in 87 swings. Grand Canyon hit at a .361 clip in the opening set, but fell to .250 in the second and .161 in the third. Israeli national David Ido (13 kills), Ethan Champlin (10) and Alex Knight (10) gave the Bruins balance. Camden Gianni had 11 kills and seven digs for the Lopes.

No. 1 Hawai’i (22-2, 5-1 Big West) had its attack in high gear again, blistering host UC Santa Barbara (5-15, 1-6) by hitting .418 in a 25-19, 25-21, 29-27 triumph. Usual suspects Dimitrios Mouchlias (14 kills with a .520 percentage) and Chaz Galloway (12 kills on .526) led the way for the two-time defending NCAA champion Rainbow Warriors.

Fourth-ranked Long Beach State (16-3, 5-1 Big West) played pristine volleyball before a crowd of 1,413 at the Pyramid in a 25-15, 25-17, 25-13 shellacking of UC San Diego (7-14, 1-6). The Beach had 56 attacks and committed two errors. That number “two” is not a typo. The Tritons made 28 attacking errors, three more than they totaled in kills. Sotiris Siapanis of Long Beach State went 8-for-12 with no errors; Clark Godbold was 7–for-11 with no error

Visiting UC Irvine (16-6, 6-0 Big West), tied for fifth in the poll, rode the hot arm of 6-foot-8 junior opposite Francesco Sani to a 25-22, 28-26, 25-17 victory over No. 15 CSUN (12-11, 1-5). Sani pounded 23 kills and hit .475. Northridge’s Kyle Hobus recorded 13 kills. 

Getting 10 kills each from Theo Snoey and Kevin Lamp, ninth-ranked Stanford (11-10, 4-4 MPSF) rolled over Concordia Irvine (7-15, 1-7 MPSF) 25-21, 25-16, 25-10 at Maples Pavilion. The visiting Eagles were held to .167 hitting.

No. 8 Pepperdine (15-10) of the MPSF romped against visiting Division-III program Cal Lutheran (18-11) 25-16, 25-19, 25-22. Junior middle Anderson Fuller paced a balanced attack with 11 kills on .588 hitting with four block assists.

No. 3 Penn State (20-3, 6-0 EIVA) recorded an aces-to-service-errors ratio of 11 to 19 in a 25-17, 29-27, 25-21 sweep of host Harvard (7-13, 0-6). The Crimson gave Penn State some heartburn during the overtime second set, but the Nittany Lions got relief when Ryan Hong’s spike was rejected by a triple block and Brett Wildman cranked an ace to end it. Penn State held Harvard to 10 kills with nine hitting errors in the third set to ice its 24th consecutive victory in a regular-season EIVA match. Toby Ezeonu (four aces), Cal Fisher (three) and Wildman (two) led the bomb squad from the service line.

Meanwhile, No. 14 Charleston  (21-2, 5-1) survived a five-set scare on its home court in West Virginia to keep its hold on second in the EIVA. The Golden Eagles see-sawed with game NJIT (8-14, 2-5) before prevailing 25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 23-25, 15-12. The match-winning point was scored, fittingly, on an errant serve by Martin De Chavarria, who had eight of NJIT’s whopping 35 service errors. Luuk Hoge Bavel led the winners with 15 kills. Princeton (10-11, 4-3) surrendered some ground in the league when it hit .082 in a 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 loss to visiting George Mason (10-12, 2-4).

No. 10 Loyola Chicago (21-4, 11-1), the first-place team in the MIVA and unbeaten on its home court, welcomed last-place Quincy, winless in the conference, to Gentile Arena on senior night. Easy pickings, right? Not so fast. The Ramblers need all of sophomore Parker Van Buren’s 19 kills, six aces and three block assists to hold off the upset-minded Hawks  (7-17, 0-12) in five 25-16, 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 15-7. Loyola gained 7-2 separation in the fifth and put the hammer down from there, finishing the set with eight kills on an errorless 12 swings. Senior Cole Schlothauer (15 kills) passed the 1,000-kill milestone during the match and middle Nicodemus Meyer was highly productive (seven kills on .600 hitting with three block assists and two solo stuffs). Reje Alleyne kept Quincy in the hunt with 20 kills, four aces, three block assists and two solos.

The teams tied for second in the MIVA standings, No. 12 Ball State and No. 13 Ohio State, won on the road.

The Cardinals (16-8, 9-3) were extended to five by host Lewis (14-12, 5-7) before pulling off a 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-12 nail-biter. A kill and an ace (the last of three) by Zimbabwean national Tinaishe Ndavazocheva punctuated the fifth set. Kaleb Jenness contributed 18 kills, three block assists and eight digs to Ball State’s cause. The Flyers got 17 kills on .433 hitting and 13 digs from Cole Brillhart.

The Buckeyes (17-9, 9-3) dispatched host McKendree (6-13, 1-11) in four tight sets 25-21, 26-24, 20-25, 26-24. Winners of six in a row, Ohio State enjoyed another strong performance from junior go-to guy Jacob Pasteur (19 kills, two aces), who is 14 kills away from 1,000. Lastly, host Purdue Fort Wayne (16-10, 7-5), led by Carlos Mercado’s 16 kills, logged 10 aces against 11 service errors during a 25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 25-17 victory over Lindenwood (9-11, 6-6).

In a match of teams at or near the top of the standings in Conference Carolinas, league-leading North Greenville (16-7, 9-3) posted a businesslike 25-19, 25-23, 25-14 victory over visiting Erskine (13-11, 8-5). Diego Rosich dialed up four of the Crusaders’ seven aces, and added nine kills and a solo block. North Greenville put blankets over Erskine’s Edgerrin Austin (eight attack errors against seven kills in 27 swings)  and Jason Sall (seven kills with six errors in 17 attempts).

Belmont Abbey (14-13, 8-4) remained a match out of first by topping host Emmanuel (8-17, 3-9) in five 25-22, 15-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-6. The visiting Crusaders cracked .500 in the lopsided deciding set. Matteo Maselli needed 47 swings to put down 16 balls. Host King (13-14, 8-5) stayed relevant with a five-set victory (25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11) over Mount Olive (9-14, 5-8). Warren Davis (18 kills and 15 digs) and Jackson Carroll (15 kills and four block assists) were productive for the Tornado. Barton (4-17, 4-9) won on the road in five (17-15 in the fifth) over Lees-McRae (9-14, 5-7).

In the NEC, Zach Schneider’s 18 kills, four aces and 18 digs helped Daemen (15-4, 9-1) pull out a back-and-forth road victory in five over St. Francis Brooklyn (9-12, 4-6) 23-25, 34-32, 25-19, 28-30, 15-12. The Wildcats ripped 12 aces and made just 14 service errors. Saint Francis (11-11, 8-2) of Pennsylvania kept on Daemen’s heels by topping host Merrimack (9-12, 3-7) 25-21, 25-13, 17-25, 25-22. Nathan Zini notched 15 kills on .519 hitting. Ethan Young’s kill and match-point ace culminated a tense five-set triumph (17-15 in the fifth) by visiting Fairleigh Dickinson (5-15, 2-8) over Sacred Heart (7-11, 4-6). Also, host Long Island (14-9) of the NEC bounced the SIAC’s D’Youville (9-10) in four with Luke Chandler getting 16 kills, hitting .448 and picking up five block assists and a solo.

Elsewhere, streaking Lincoln Memorial improved to 18-4 with a lopsided sweep of visiting Tusculum (9-15) in an independent match. Cole Campisano notched 12 kills on .421 hitting with an ace and setter John Luers had 32 assists and 11 digs for the Railsplitters, who have won 15 in a row. Earlier, Deklan Wingo posted 17 kills in a 3-2 neutral-court victory (15-4 in the fifth) by Tusculum over fellow independent Alderson Broaddus (10-16) at Lincoln Memorial. Visiting Vassar (19-1), ranked No. 2 in the AVCA D-III poll, built its winning streak to 18, allowing 43 points in a three-set thumping of struggling independent American International (2-20).

No men’s matches are scheduled Sunday and Monday.

Larry Hamel