The MIVA final is set after Ball State swept Lewis and Ohio State won a different kind of match over McKendree, losing one set and winning another 25-9.
In the MPSF the seasons ended for Pepperdine, swept by Grand Canyon; USC, which lost to Stanford; and Concordia Irvine, defeated by BYU. The semifinals are Thursday.
NJIT knocked off Charleston and George Mason beat Harvard in five to move into Thursday’s EIVA semifinals.
The Big West gets going Thursday with UC San Diego vs. UC Santa Barbara and CSUN vs. host UC Irvine. The semifinals are Friday when top-ranked Hawai’i and second-seeded Long Beach State await.
LIU and Sacred Heart advanced to Thursday’s NEC semifinals.
The SIAC gets its tournament underway Thursday with four matches where two teams will play twice in a day.
Conference Carolinas has its semifinals Friday.
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MIVA
Top-seeded Ball State (20-8) overpowered visiting fourth-seeded Lewis (17-13) in the semifinals 25-21, 25-21, 25-18 to advance to Saturday’s championship match against Ohio State. At stake is the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The teams met twice in the regular season.
Ball State swept the Buckeyes at home on March 15, but Ohio State won in five on its home court three days later.
Ball State hit .400 against Lewis. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva led with 15 kills as he hit .385 and had two aces, three blocks and four digs. Kaleb Jenness had 11 kills with two errors in 20 attacks to hit .450 and added an ace, four digs and five blocks. Felix Egharevba had 10 kills with one error in 14 attacks to hit .643 and he had five blocks. Vanis Buckholz had seven kills in 11 errorless swings and five blocks. David Flores had 39 assists, three blocks and four digs.
Lewis, which hit .200, got eight kills from Christian Prayer and seven each from Cole Brillhart and Michael Sack, who had one error in nine attacks.
Second-seeded Ohio State (21-9) beat seventh-seeded McKendree (7-16) as the Buckeyes hit a whopping .451 in the 25-20, 21-25, 25-9, 25-15 victory.
Shane Wetzel had 19 kills for Ohio State to go with two solo blocks and three digs. Jacob Pasteur had 16 kills, hit .444, and had two assists, all of his team’s for aces, two blocks and seven digs. Jack Stevens had 11 kills in 20 errorless attempts and three blocks, one solo. Justin Howard had six kills in eight errorless swings and three blocks and Michael Wright had four kills in as many tries, 48 assists, three digs and two blocks, one solo. Thomas Poole had 11 digs and three assists. Ohio State had 61 kills with 15 errors in 102 attacks.
McKendree, which advanced by upsetting second-seeded Loyola, hit .172. Kyle Wilson led with 11 kills, three aces and two blocks, and Bryce Wetjen had 10 kills and three blocks.
MPSF
Thursday’s semifinals at Stanford are set. Fourth-seeded Grand Canyon plays top-seeded UCLA, followed by second-seeded BYU vs. No. 3 Stanford.
UCLA won at Grand Canyon in both of their regular-season meetings, in four on March 31 and in a sweep the next day.
BYU beat visiting Stanford twice just last week, in four on Friday and with a sweep on Saturday.
Grand Canyon (22-6) ousted Pepperdine (16-14) as the Lopes hit .382 and held a 10-3 blocks advantage in the 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 victory.
Camden Gianni had 10 kills and hit .400 for GCU, which also got seven kills apiece from Christian Janke and Rico Wardlow. Janke had one error in 12 attacks to go with two assists, two aces, two blocks and eight digs. Wardlow had an assist, an ace and five blocks. Nicholas Slight had two kills, 29 assists, an ace, five blocks and four digs.
Jaylen Jasper, earlier in the day named the MPSF player of the year, had 12 kills for Pepperdine. Anderson Fuller had seven kills in 10 errorless attacks.
Stanford (14-12) came away with a 21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-15 victory over USC (10-16). Kevin Lamp had 17 kills, two assists, two aces, seven digs and four blocks. Theo Snoey had 14 kills, three blocks and five digs, and Will Rottman had 13 kills, two assists, three aces and seven digs. Nathan Lietzke had three kills in four errorles tries, 48 assists, an ace, three blocks and 10 digs. His team hit . 278 and had six aces and 24 errors, eight by Lame and seven by Rottman.
USC, which held a 20-10 blocks advantage, hit .155. Dillon Klein had 12 kills, an assist, an ace and seven blocks, two solo. Kevin Kobrine had nine kills and six blocks, one solo, to go with 12 digs. Lucas Frassrand had nine blocks.
BYU (19-6) won 20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-15 over CUI (8-19) behind 20 kills from Kupono Browne. He had four errors in 35 attacks to hit .457 and had an assist, three aces, two blocks and two digs. Miks Ramanis had 11 kills, three assists, four blocks and six digs. Heath Hughes had three kills, 41 assists, an ace and a dig. BYU hit .261 and had 10 aces, five by Trent Moser, and 16 errors.
CUI, which hit .260, had three aces and 19 errors. Uriel Batista had 10 kills, an ace, five digs and four blocks, one solo. Gage Doble had nine kills, three blocks and nine digs.
EIVA
Top-seeded Penn State plays No. 4 George Mason and No. 2 Princeton plays sixth-seeded NJIT. In the regular season, Penn State swept at Mason twice two weekes ago, while Princeton won in five at NJIT on March 11 and beat the visiting Highlanders in four to end the regular season.
Mason (13-14) battled to a 22-25, 25-14, 25-12, 21-25, 15-12 victory over fifth-seeded Harvard (9-16) behind 42 kills from Omar Hoyos and Liam French. Hoyos had 22 kills, hit .488, and had an assist, two aces, two blocks and five digs. French had 20 kills, hit .325, and had three aes, five digs and three blocks, one solo. Georgi Zahariev had two kills, 54 assists, an ce, five digs and four blocks, one solo. Mason held a 10-2 blocks advantage.
Harvard, which hit .211 and had two aces and 14 errors, got 17 kills from Zach Berty.
Alessandro Negri had 25 kills and sixth-seeded NJIT (9-16) won 25-23-, 25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 15-11 over third-seeded Charleston, (22-7). Negri hit .370 and had three assists, two blocks and eight digs. Martin de Chavarria had nine kills, hit .389 and had an ace, a dig and four blocks, one solo. Jens Feldthus had eight kills, an assist, three aces, two blocks and 14 digs. Griffin Fieseler and Roque Nido combined for 11 kills, 54 assists, an ace, four blocks and nine digs. NJIT hit .300 and had five aces and 23 errors.
Charleston, which was No. 14 in the most recent AVCA top 15 and making the program’s first postseason appearance, finished its season with five losses in a row. The Eagles hit .254 and had one ace and 20 errors. Lachlan Bray led with 14 kills, Luuk Hoge Bavel had 13 to go with six blocks and seven digs, and Veit Bils had 12 kills, hit .474, had that ace, three blocks and two digs.
NEC
The inaugural NEC Volleyball Championship saw third-seeded LIU (17-11) beat sixth-seeded Merrimack (10-16) in four and fourth-seeded Sacred Heart (12-12) knock out St. Francis Brooklyn (10-16), not only out of the tournament but out of the sport.
LIU got 18 kills from Luke Chandler in its 26-24, 17-25, 25-13, 25-20 victory. Livian Moreno added 13 kills. Miles Dewhirst had 14 kills for Merrimack and Matthew Motes 13.
Sacred Heart beat St. Francis Brooklyn 29-27, 25-23, 25-21 behind 15 kills from Patrick Muecherino. Bartek Zielinski had 20 kills for St. Francis, which is dropping athletics after this school year.
Thursday’s semifinals pit top-seeded Saint Francis against Sacred Heart and second-seeded Daemen vs. LIU. The NEC does not get an automatic NCAA tourney bid.
