NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball got a lot more interesting in the MPSF and MIVA on Thursday night. And things really heat up on the beaches Friday and Saturday.
That’s because No. 14 Concordia won at No. 2 BYU, which was previously unbeaten in the MPSF, and No. 9 Ohio State took down No. 6 Loyola to force a tie between them atop the MIVA standings.
Now the NCAA Division I-II men’s spotlight shines on the Big West, where the leader, No. 1 Long Beach State (19-0, 4-0), plays host to No. 4 UC Irvine (17-5, 3-1). And then they play Saturday night at UCI.
Also on the Big West schedule Friday, No. 7 Hawai’i is home for UC San Diego and No. 11 UC Santa Barbara is at No. 8 CSUN. For a list of Friday’s matches, click here for the NCAA.com scoreboard. And to watch those matches or any others, go to the VolleyballMag.com daily TV and streaming listings.
There was a light beach schedule Thursday that included No. 19 Washington sweeping visiting Boise State. Also, Boise State beat Portland 3-2.
At Miami, the field includes not only the host No. 12 Florida International, but No. 2 UCLA — coming off that win over No. 1 Pepperdine — No. 7 Florida State, No. 8 South Carolina, No. 11 Grand Canyon and No. 18 Florida Atlantic along with TCU and Tulane. UCLA plays FSU early Friday.
The Big West Challenge starts Friday at Sacramento State and includes No. 3 Hawai’i, No. 5 Long Beach State, No. 6 Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, and CSUN.
LSU is the host again this weekend. This time, the No. 10 Tigers entertain Arizona, UAB, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Jacksonville State.
On Saturday, Pepperdine is the host for No. 4 USC, No. 16 Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary’s.
MPSF: After Concordia’s historic victory, No. 5 Pepperdine’s win over USC and Stanford’s victory over Grand Canyon, BYU (18-5, 8-1 MPSF) is still in the lead. But UCLA (20-5, 7-2) is a game back, followed by Pepperdine (14-6, 7-3).
Concordia is 13-13, 4-6 after its 19-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-21, 16-14 win in Provo. This was a match of many firsts: Concordia’s first set win over BYU, Concordia’s first overall win over BYU, BYU’s first loss in conference this season and Concordia’s first win over a top five team in NCAA Division I-II.
Raymond Barsemian led Concordia with 18 kills. He hit .438, had two of his team’s six aces, seven digs and five blocks. Jonathan Predney had 17 kills, three aces and five digs. And Darcy Taig had 14 kills, seven digs and two blocks.
Brenden Sander had a big night for BYU with 24 kills while hitting .455. He had four of BYU’s six aces, three digs and four blocks. Cyrus Fa’alogo had 15 kills, hit .414, and had an ace, eight digs and two blocks. And Gabi Garcia Fernandez had 13 kills, an ace, six digs and four blocks.
Visiting Pepperdine swept USC (6-17, 2-7) 25-20, 26-24, 25-23 as David Wieczorek had 15 kills, hit .314, and had an ace, four digs and two blocks. Alex Harthaller had 13 kills, hit .440, had three of the Waves’ seven aces, and seven digs. Jack Wyett had 14 kills for USC. He hit .423, had an ace, eight digs, and two blocks, one solo.
Also in the MPSF, Stanford (5-17, 2-7) pulled into a tie with USC for last in the league by beating No. 13 Grand Canyon (16-9, 3-7) 25-20, 26-24, 25-23. Jaylen Jasper led with the line of the night, 27 kills while hitting .409. He had four of his team’s six aces, nine digs and two blocks. Kevin Rakestraw added 16 kills while hitting .636 to go with three blocks, an ace and three digs. And Jordan Ewert had 10 kills, six digs and two blocks.
GCU’s Cullen Mosher had 17 kills while hitting .351 to go with seven digs and three blocks. Ashton King had 11 kills and hit .435.
MIVA: Not only did Ohio State beat Loyola, but No. 10 Lewis was knocked off by McKendree. That leaves Ohio State (18-4, 9-2) and Loyola (19-5, 9-2) tied for first and Lewis (16-9, 7-4) two games back.
Ohio State won 25-20, 25-16, 39-41, 25-19 as the Buckeyes hit .353 as Maxime Hervoir and Nic Szerszen led the way.
Hervoir had 24 kills, hit .463, and had 10 digs and four blocks. Szerszen had 20 kills, three of Ohio State’s five aces, 13 digs and two blocks. Blake Leeson added 10 kills, hit .562, an ace and four blocks, one solo.
Loyola’s Ricky Gevis had 13 kills, seven digs and five blocks. Collin Mahan had 12 kills and Jeff Jendryk 11 while hitting .526. Loyola had one ace and 20 errors.
McKendree won 21-25, 38-36, 25-23, 25-23 for the Bearcats’ first win ever over Lewis. Just 105 fans were on hand in Lebanon, Ill., as Jared Wilcox had 20 kills, hit .302, and had six digs and three blocks. Nolan Rueter had 18 kills and 13 digs. Brendan Schmidt had 10 kills, hit .600, had one of his team’s two aces, and two blocks.
Lewis got 19 kills from Ryan Coenen, who had an ace, nine digs and three blocks, one solo. Mitch Perinar had 13 kills.
Also: Sacred Heart (5-11 overall, 1-8 EIVA) swept St. Francis (8-16, 3-6) and Limestone (8-16, 5-9 Conference Carolinas) swept Lees-McRae (2-19, 0-12).
And click here for the Washington recap and summary of its beach win over Boise State.
