Ball St., Belmont Abbey win men’s titles; Orlando tops Grand Rapids in Pro Volleyball

Fourth-ranked Hawai’i bounced back in a Big (West) way at No. 5 UC Irvine, second-ranked UCLA broke the tie at the top of the MPSF with a five-set win over No. 3 Grand Canyon, and No. 13 USC knocked off No. 6 BYU in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball Saturday.

Ball State pulled off a reverse sweep to clinch the MIVA regular-season title outright and Belmont Abbey wrapped up the Conference Carolinas regular-season crown for the first time.

Line of the day: Emmanuel’s Eli Zdonek had 34 kills in a five-set Conference Carolinas loss to Barton.

The men are off until Tuesday with no in-conference matches until Thursday, so the only volleyball on tap Sunday is when the Columbus Fury play at the San Diego Mojo in the Pro Volleyball Federation. Speaking of the PVF, in the lone league match Saturday the Orlando Valkyries beat the Grand Rapids Rise in five.

NCAA men

MPSF: UCLA (20-4, 9-1), which swept visiting Grand Canyon (20-4, 8-2) the day before, battled to a 24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 18-25, 15-8 victory that broke a tie at the top of the conference. Both teams have two matches left in the regular season.

Merrick McHenry led the Bruins with 14 kills and hit .522 after having two errors in 23 attacks to go with an assist, three of his team’s 10 aces, two blocks and three digs. Ethan Champlin had 12 kills, two assists, two blocks and seven digs. Andrew Rowan had five kills in seven errorless attempts, 48 assists, an ace, two blocks and five digs. His team hit .312.

GCU’s Jarrett Anderson led the Lopes with 19 kills, hitting .405, to go with six digs and four blocks, one solo. Camden Gianni had 14 kills, hit .344, and had three assists, an ace, two blocks and six digs. Jackson Hickman added 13 kills, two assists, two blocks and 10 digs. Nicholas Slight had three kills in four errorless tries, 46 assists, a block and nine digs. His team hit .377 … 

USC (12-12, 3-7), which lost in four to visiting BYU (16-8, 7-5) the day before, came back to win 20-25, 27-25, 26-28, 29-27, 18-16 to end its home season with a flourish. Noah Roberts led with a career-high 19 kills, hitting .593 to go with nine digs and four blocks, one solo. Dillon Klein had 16 kills, three aces, five blocks and six digs, and Kyle Paulson had 10 kills, hit .368, and had an ace, six blocks and seven digs. Markus Olssson and Riley Haine had nine kills each. Olsson’s was a career high including the match winner, as he hit .400 and had six blocks and three digs. Caleb Blanchette had two kills in four errorless tries, 60 assists, three blocks and three digs.

Kupono Browne led BYU with 20 kills and had five of his team’s 12 aces to go with five blocks and seven digs. Miks Ramanis had 16 kills, an assist, also five aces, five block and nine digds. Luke Bendon had 15 kills and Gavin Julien 11 with one error in 15 attacks. Ethan Gant had seven kills with one error in 15 swings, an ace and nine blocks. Tyler Herget had 59 assists, a block and nine digs … 

Stanford (11-11, 4-6), which beat CUI (6-16, 0-10) in five the day before, won again, this time 23-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-23. The Cardinal, which hit .380, got 12 kills from Will Rottman, who had two assist, four digs and two blocks, one solo. Theo Snoey had 11 kills, hit .400, and had five of his team’s 13 aces to go with a block and five digs. Kevin Lamp, who had six kills with one error in 16 swings, had six aces, two blocks and six digs.

CUI, which has lost 11 in a row, go 17 kills from Christian Galoppo.

BIG WEST: Hawai’i (21-5, 4-4) got swept at UC Irvine (17-8, 6-2) on Friday, but came back Saturday to win 22-25, 27-25, 25-18, 25-18. Louis Sakanoko led the Rainbow Warriors with 16 kills, hitting .375, to go with two assists, an ace, a block and eight digs. Alaka’i Todd had 12 kills, two assists, an ace, five block and seven digs. Guillherme Voss had eight kills with one error in 13 attacks, an assist, three blocks and a dig. Keoni Thiim had eight kills, an assist, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Tread Rosenthal had five kills in 10 errorless tries, 47 assists, ana ce, nine digs and five blocks. His team hit .362.

UCI, which hit .425 the night before, hit .146. Hilir Henno led with 13 kills and William D’Arcy had 12 … 

Top-ranked Long Beach State (22-1, 8-0) just keeps on rolling, this time with a 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 win at No. 15 CSUN (11-14, 2-6). Long Beach, which has won 12 in a row, clinched at least a share of the Big West regular-season title, with two matches left against UCI. Long Beach hit .359 and had seven aces to CSUN’s one. Sotiris Siapanis had 13 kills, hitting .417, to go with an assist, two aces and two digs. Nathan Harlan and Skyler Varga had 11 kills each. CSUN’s Jalen Phillips had 11 kills with one error in 19 attacks.

MIVA: The MIVA tournament bracket is set and Ball State (20-9, 13-3) is the No. 1 seed after the No. 11 Cardinals pulled off a reverse sweep over visiting No. 18 McKendree (14-11, 8-8). Loyola Chicago (18-9, 12-4) got the No. 2 seed and Ohio State (19-8, 11-5) finished third.

In Ball State’s 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-8 win over McKendree, Tinaisha Ndavazocheva had a career-high 27 kills, hitting .449, to go with an assist, two aces, eight digs and three blocks, one solo. His teammates combined for 35 kills. McKendree’s Bryce Wetjen had 15 kills, an assist, two digs, an ace and four blocks, two solo. Kevin Schuele had 13 kills, an ace, eight digs and three blocks, one solo … 

Loyola swept visiting Lewis (15-14, 8-8), which got the No. 6 seed. Parker Van Buren had 21 kills for the Ramblers, hitting .475 after having two errors in 40 attacks to go with two assists, an ace, three blocks and five digs. Daniel Faikovic had 11 kills, hit .360, and had an assist, three blocks and five digs … No. 20 Purdue Fort Wayne (14-11, 8-8) got the fifth seed with a sweep of Quincy (5-19, 1-15), which finished its season with 18 consecutive losses. Mark Frazier led PFW with 16 kills, hitting .565 … Lindenwood (13-11, 9-7) took the fourth seed as it won in four at Queens (9-19, 2-14), which grabbed eighth spot in the the tourney as a first-year MIVA member. Ian Schuller had 15 kills for Lindenwood and Clay Wieter added 14 and AJ Lewis 13.

Click here for the MIVA tourney bracket and story. 

EIVA: No. 11 Penn State (19-6, 8-0) swept 25-14, 25-19, 30-28 at Charleston (11-14, 2-6) and lead No. 16 George Mason (17-7, 6-2) by two games with two games left. And they play each other next Friday and Saturday at Penn State.

John Kerr led a balanced Penn State attack with 14 kills. Michael Valezi had 10 to go with an ace and five blocks, two solo …

Mason swept visiting Harvard (11-10, 3-5) as Omar Hoyos had 13 kills and Colin Heath 10 in the 25-20, 25-23, 25-16 victory.

CONFERENCE CAROLINAS: Belmont Abbey (17-4, 12-1) beat visiting King (6-18, 4-9) 25-23, 25-21, 27-25. Zach Puentes led the Crusaders with 12 kills and Matthew Staskuna and Jibriel Elhaddad had eight each … North Greenville (13-8, 10-3) finished second after sweeping Lees-McRae (1-26, 0-13), which lost its 20th in a row. Diego Rosich had 11 kills and Tom Curry 10 with one error in 13 attacks … Erskine (13-9, 9-4) swept Mount Olive (15-9, 8-5) to break a tie for third between them as Pablo Zamar had 14 kills, hitting .357 with an ace, five digs and four blocks … and Barton (12-11, 6-7) won in five at Emmanuel (9-18, 3-10) despite a program-record 34 kills by Emmanuel’s Eli Zdonek, a 6-foot senior outside who hit .409 and had two aces, 12 digs and a block. Teammate Aiden Feeney had 19 kills. Barton’s Brandon Johnson had 11 kills, Ryan Geraci 10, and Luke Deppe and Jake Adams eight each.

There is one conference match left for each team before the tournament begins April 16.

AROUND THE NATION: First-place Saint Francis (PA) improved to 18-8, 10-0 in the NEC with its sixth victory in a row, a four-set win at last-place D’Youville (10-11, 1-9). Andrew Deardorff led with 17 kills, hitting .556 and Nathan Zini added 15 kills … Merrimack (8-14, 3-7) got 20 kills from Yulius Melvin Brown Rudolf and beat LIU (14-12, 8-4) in four … FDU (11-12, 5-5) beat Sacred Heart (10-17, 2-8) in four as Jamal Ellis Carballo had 25 kills, hitting .450 with an ace, six digs and three blocks, one solo, while Patrick Mucherino had 25 kills for SHU. He hit .333 and had four digs and three blocks, one solo … Second-place Daemen (16-6, 7-3) swept Roberts Wesleyan (7-15) of the ECC … 

In the SIAC, Edward Waters (11-13, 8-1) swept Benedict (2-14, 2-6) and Fort Valley State (10-8, 6-0) did the same to Central State (6-26, 4-4) … DIII MIT swept American International of the ECC … Lincoln Memorial (19-5) swept fellow independent Tusculum (6-22) as the Railsplitters hit .456.

Pro Volleyball Federation

The visiting Orlando Valkyries (7-8) came away with a 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-9 victory over the Grand Rapids Rise (6-8) to move into sole possession of third place.

The Atlanta Vibe lead at 12-4, a game up on the Omaha Supernovas (11-5). The Columbus Fury (5-8) are a game back of Grand Rapids in the win column, followed by the San Diego Mojo (4-7) and Vegas Thrill (5-10).

Adora Anae led Orlando against the Rise with 16 kills, an assist, 12 digs and six blocks, three solo. Kaz Brown had 13 kills, an ace, a dig and five blocks, four solo. Jill Gillen, who entered the match late, had four kills, all in the fifth set, with no errors in 10 attacks and four digs and two blocks, one solo. Shainah Joseph had nine kills, 13 digs and three blocks, one solo. Abby Hansen had seven kills with one error in 12 attacks, an assist, a dig and four blocks, two solo. Wilma Rivera had 35 assists, eight digs, two kills, two block assists and an ace. Georgia Murphy had 13 digs ans five assists.

Grand Rapids, which has lost three in a row, got another big performance from Claire Chaussee, who finished with 23 kills, an ace, 22 digs and four blocks, one solo. Shannon Scully had 15 kills, an ace, 14 digs and two block assists. Emiliya Dimitrova had 13 kills, an ace, three assists, 12 digs and four blocks, one solo. Ashley Evans, who had 52 assists, had an ace, two kills, 15 digs and seven blocks, one solo.

The match at Grand Rapids drew 5,250, the second-largest home crowd for the Rise since the sellout season opener (7,805).