A relatively quiet Saturday in men’s NCAA college volleyball saw Loyola-Chicago, which had plenty to celebrate already with the school’s men’s basketball team advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16, win the battle of Chicago against Lewis, plus Ohio State’s Nicolas Szerszen had a big match in Pennsylvania.
We’ll also check in on the women’s college beach scene where two top-five teams met in Hawai’i and USC went the distance in Honolulu.
Sunday has a sparse lineup around the country on the men’s side as Hawai’i battles Pepperdine in Malibu, California at 5 p.m. Pacific. Hawai’i brings a 13-5 mark into the match. Charleston concludes its doubleheader at NJIT, while Penn State hosts Saint Francis.
A full slate of action was on tap Saturday in the MIVA. No. 8 Lewis lost at home to No. 6 Loyola Chicago. The loss snapped a 12-match home winning streak for the Flyers.
Loyola remained in first place in the MIVA, moving to 17-4 overall and 7-1 in conference play. Lewis dropped to 14-8 and 5-3 in MIVA action.
Jeff Jendryk and Collin Mahan led Loyola with 13 kills each, Garrett Zolg had 43 assists, while Avery Aylsworth had 10 digs.
Ryan Coenen led Lewis with 13 kills, while Julian Moses had eight kills and Tyler Mitchem had seven kills.
Ball State, ranked 11th in the country, swept visiting Fort Wayne. Matt Szews led Ball State with 13 kills, five digs and two blocks. Matt Walsh added seven kills, while Blake Reardon and Ben Chinnici each had six kills. Parker Swartz had four kills and two aces and Jake Romano had 35 assists.
Ohio State was a 3-0 winner at St. Francis. Nicolas Szerszen had 14 kills for the Buckeyes, who improved to 15-4 overall. He hit .519 in the match. Maxime Hervoir had 10 kills and hit .562. Ohio State hit .463 behind setter Sanil Thomas’ 36 assists.
Quincy was a 3-1 winner over Trinity Christian. Jacob Sheets led Quincy (12-12) with 13 kills. Omari Wheeler had 10 kills, while Adam Rogan chipped in 59 assists.
In MPSF action, No. 7 Pepperdine swept Grand Canyon 3-0 in Malibu, California. Pepperdine moved to 12-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play. Grand Canyon dropped to 15-8 and 2-6.
David Wieczorek had 15 kills, while Alex Harthaller had 13 and Colby Harriman had 12 kills for the Waves, who hit .415 while limiting Grand Canyon to a season-low .183. Robert Mullahey had 33 assists and five digs.
USC moved to 6-15 overall and 2-5 in MPSF play with a 21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 26-24 win against Stanford in Palo Alto, California. Stanford slipped to 4-17 overall and 1-7 in conference action.
Jack Wyett had 15 kills, while Sam Lewis had 12 kills and six blocks. Gianluca Grasso added seven kills, four blocks and three aces, while Ryan Moss had seven kills and hit .438. Jaylen Jasper’s 20 kills and seven digs led Stanford. Kyler Presho had 10 kills and four blocks, while Kevin Rakestraw had six kills and six blocks.
EIVA action saw NJIT sweep Charleston 3-0. Alvaro Gimeno had 13 kills and hit. 478 for NJIT, while Piotr Namiotko had 12 kills. Ryan Santos’ 11 kills led Charleston.
Over in Conference Carolinas, Barton was a 3-0 winner against Emmanuel (Ga.), while King (Tenn.) defeated Belmont Abbey 3-0 and also downed Bluefield College 3-0.
In King’s win against Abbey Kiel Ball and Jeff Sprayberry each had 10 kills. Bell hit .444, while King hit .319 as a team. Nick Drooker had 28 assists and Sean Kohlhase had eight digs.
In the Bluefield win, Dalton Johnson had 10 kills, while Julian Young had nine kills and Justin McCarthy had eight kills and hit .375. Chandler Christy doled out 31 assists and Leo de Quadros had seven digs.
Switching over to women’s college beach highlights from Saturday, a pair of top-five teams battled it out at the 2018 Outrigger Resorts Hawai’i Invitational on Queen’s Beach in Honolulu with No. 5 Hawai’i edging No. 3 USC 3-2. Hawai’i snapped an eight-match losing streak to USC.
USC’s Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina were 21-19, 19-21, 15-7 winners at No. 1. Terese Cannon and Sammy Slater won 21-18, 21-16 at No. 2 for USC. Morgan Martin and Lea Monkhouse were 18-21, 21-19, 15-9 winners at No. 3 for Hawai’i. Ari Homayun and Amy Ozee were 11-21, 21-16, 15-9 winners for Hawaii at No. 4, while Paige Dreeuws and Hannah Zalopany were 21-23, 21-14, 15-6 winners at No. 5 for Hawai’i, which moved to 9-3. USC dropped to 9-5.
USC came right back to sweep Nebraska 5-0 and earn its 10th win of the season (fourth 5-0 sweep of the season).
Katrina Kernochan and Alexandra Poletto won at No. 4. Joy Dennis and Haley Hallgren won at No. 3, while Bustamante and Grauddina won at No. 1. Jenna Belton and Jo Kremer swept at No. 5, while Terese Cannon and Sammy Slater were three-set winners at No. 2.
Hawai’i also was a 5-0 winner over Nebraska. Carly Kan and Laurel Weaver won at No. 1, while Ka’iwi Schucht and Emily Maglio were winners at No. 2. Martin and Monkhouse won at No. 3, while Homayun and Ozee took the win at No. 4 and Dreeuws and Zalopany won at No. 5.
Hawai’i also defeated Grand Canyon 4-1. Kan and Weaver won at No. 1, while Schucht and Maglio won at No. 2. Monkhouse and Martin were winners at No. 3, while Homayun and Ozee won at No. 4.
USC plays Nebraska and Hawai’i again today on Queen’s Beach.
No. 7 LSU split with CCSA foe Georgia State and Jacksonville State at the Gamecock Grandslam at Wheeler Beach. LSU is 7-7 on the season. The Tigers lost 3-2 to No. 11 Georgia State and swept Jacksonville State 5-0.
“Today was tough,” said LSU coach Russell Brock. “We still are looking for the right arrangement and mindset for us to consistently play our best ball.”
In the Georgia State loss. LSU’s Kristen Nuss and Claire Coppola were winners at No. 1. Georgia State’s Brooke Weiner and Annika Van Gunst won at No. 2 and the No. 3 team of Georgia Johnson and Olivia Stasevich were winners at No. 3 for GSU. Amie Held and Kate Novack were 21-18, 21-12 winners at No. 4 for Georgia State, while LSU’s Riley Young and Megan Davenport won at No. 5.
Coppola and Nuss also won at No. 1 against Jacksonville State, while Young teamed with Gina Tillis to win at No. 5. Davenport teamed with Maddie Ligon to win at No. 4.
LSU faces No. 1 Pepperdine and No. 9 South Carolina today.
No. 4 Florida State downed Houston Baptist and Jacksonville during the second day of the Hickory Point Lake Bash hosted by Stetson in Tavares, Florida. The redshirt senior duo of Katie Horton and Hailey Luke played in the No. 1 position for Florida State, while the top of the lineup saw new additions in Nikki Esposito and Alaina Chacon. Molly McBain and Madison Fitzpatrick picked up two more wins at the No. 5 position.
Tulane downed Louisiana Monroe and UAB at the Blazer Beach Duals in Birmingham, Alabama. The wins moved No. 17 Tulane to 9-3.
“I’m very proud of our players for winning four straight matches and making some difficult changes over the two days,” said Tulane coach Wayne Holly. “We were pushed and our team answered the challenge and played better as the event went on.”
Against Monroe, the No. 1 Tulane team of Madeline Mertz and sophomore Kaylie McHugh won their 10th match of the season.
