Larry Bock, who capped a tremendous career by coaching the last seven years at Navy, has retired.
Navy reported that Bock holds NCAA records for the most career wins as a women’s head coach (1,348) and as a collegiate volleyball coach (1,448). That includes 34 seasons at Division III Juniata where he went 1,252-192, winning NCAA titles in 2004 and 2006 and played in six other national-championship matches.
This past season at Navy was his best, as the Mids finished 23-8 overall and 12-4 in the Patriot League.
More on Bock later, but first a look at the NCAA Division I-II men’s results from Thursday and Friday’s schedule.
There were two matches Thursday involving four ranked teams — all in the MIVA — as No. 6 Loyola beat No. 11 Ball State and and No. 10 Lewis beat No. 15 Fort Wayne.
The MIVA has two matches as No. 9 Ohio State goes to Quincy and Princeton of the EIVA tries to beat McKendree for the second straight night.
The EIVA shows Sacred Heart at Harvard and George Mason at Charleston.
There is one match in the MPSF when Concordia plays at Grand Canyon.
There are four matches in Conference Carolinas as league-leader Barton is home for North Greenville, King (one game back in the loss column) goes to Erskine, Lees-McRae is at Emmanuel and Limestone plays at Mount Olive.
The Big West is off.
Thursday men: While the Loyola men’s basketball team was living the NCAA Tournament basketball dream, the school’s volleyball team was sweeping Ball State 25-21, 25-20, 29-27.
League-leader Loyola (18-4, 8-1 MIVA) had a balanced attack, led by Ricky Gevis’ 10 kills. He hit .556, had an ace, four digs and two blocks. Collin Mahan had nine kills and an ace and Ryan Jamison had eight kills, two digs and two blocks.
Ball State (13-10, 6-3) hit .138. Matt Szews led with 12 kills, two aces, three digs and a block.
Lewis (15-8, 6-3) kept pace with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-18 win over Fort Wayne (15-8, 3-6).
Lewis, which hit just .219, got 15 kills from Ryan Coenen, who had an ace, three digs and two blocks. Mitch Bugee had eight kills, 11 digs and a solo block. Fort Wayne hit .115.
Princeton of the EIVA (8-11) beat McKendree of the MIVA 27-25, 25-14, 19-25, 22-25, 15-11 for its seventh win in a row. Three players went off for Princeton, as George Huhmann had 19 kills, five digs and five blocks, Parker Dixon led with 22 kills while hitting .500 after making just two errors in 40 swings to go with an ace and 16 digs, and Greg Luck had 17 kills, an ace, 10 digs and three blocks, one solo.
McKendree (9-11) lost despite hitting .307. Jared Wilcox led with 23 kills and hit .463. He had two aces, 12 digs and two blocks, one solo. Nolan Rueter had 20 kills, an ace, nine digs and three blocks.
In non-conference matches, Sacred Heart of the EIVA beat independent Alderson Broaddus in four and Belmont Abbey of Conference Carolinas swept Queens.
And in Division III, the nation’s top-ranked team, Springfield, came back from a 14-day layoff by sweeping Elms College 25-17, 25-20, 25-20. The Pride (21-1) won its 21st in a row.
NCAA beach: Fifth-ranked Long Beach State beat No. 19 Washington and Vanguard on Thursday. Long Beach (9-1) is in action again Friday when it plays Nebraska and Concordia at Irvine College. Click here for the Long Beach recap and summaries.
There are big weekend tournaments at South Carolina and LSU, but Friday’s action includes No. 7 Cal Poly playing No. 14 LMU at Cal Bakersfield.
The tournament at Georgia State includes No. 9 Georgia State, Jacksonville State, North Florida, Louisiana-Monroe, and Mercer. And College of Charleston includes Lincoln Memorial and UNC Wilmington.
Coaching carousel: Bock’s retirement leaves at least three Division I openings, Navy and Columbia and Penn of the Ivy League.
Bock said this in the Navy news release:
“In 2011, I was charged with getting Navy volleyball on solid footing,” said Bock. “Solid footing here is a high bar that implies competing for championships and beating Army. We’ve made good progress by those measures. Add in terrific returners, level-5 team leadership, wonderful coaches in place, and two top-50 incoming recruiting classes. I think this is now a really healthy sustainable piece of athletics architecture, populated by incredible people and has been built to last.
“So I think we’re pretty darned solid and I can retire with a good professional conscience. Personally, I’m in good health and reasonably fit, but my energy level is not up to the high standard that we set for our team and that’s been a worry. Family is of course the biggest factor. Mostly, I’m ready to be a more available and visible grandfather, father and husband.
“The last seven years were a wonderful capstone on an athletics career full of many really cool moments. Something of a bonus from working with all my players is an absolute determination that our country will be in really good hands. I’ve been so lucky to have had the good fortune to work with the absolute best of the best.”
Click here for the complete Navy news release.
