NCAA men: No. 1 Ohio State goes for 33 in a row, UCI, UCSD get victories

Tanner Syftestad of UC San Diego goes all out for a ball against Princeton/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Ohio State hopes it’s not like the Groundhog Day movie and history doesn’t repeat itself.

But on this Groundhog Day, the top-ranked Buckeyes (9-0) try to extend their winning streak to a school-record 33 matches when they __play at No. 12 Ball State (8-1) on Thursday night. What’s more, this is the MIVA season opener for both teams.

There were a handful of NCAA men’s volleyball matches on Wednesday, including UC Irvine beating Cal Baptist in MPSF play, UC San Diego beating visiting Princeton and Belmont Abbey beat Lees-McRae in Conference Carolinas.

But first more on that Ohio State-Ball State match and the other matches on Thursday’s slate.

The last time Ohio State lost was last February — at Ball State. And the last time Ohio State won 32 matches in a row, over the 1969 and 1970 seasons, the streak ended — at Ball State. Which also happens to be the alma mater of Buckeyes coach Pete Hanson.

Ohio State has played Ball State more than any other opponent in program history. They’ve played 177 times since 1968 and Ohio State leads 94-83. Ball State is 36-30 in Muncie.

According to the Ohio State notes, Loyola won 40 in a row over the 2014-15 seasons, while UCLA is believed to own the all-time record of 47 from 1983 to 1985.

The teams split two matches last season.

You can see this one through this link at ballstatesports.com.

There’s a big one in the MPSF, where No. 9 Pepperdine (4-2, 2-1) is at No. 3 Long Beach State (7-2, 3-1).

There are two matches involving EIVA teams as NJIT goes to Rutgers-Newark for an all-New Jersey battle and Sacred Heart plays host to Alderson Broaddus.

No other MIVA teams are in action and Conference Carolinas is off.

Princeton setter Jonah May dives for a pancake against UCSD/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Three in a row for Tritons: UC San Diego beat visiting Princeton of the EIVA 25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21. It left the Tritons 3-5 after an 0-5 start, their first three-match winning streak since 2012.

Princeton is 2-4.

Tanner Syftestad had 21 kills for UCSD, the fourth time this season the junior opposite has had a match-high. He also hit .486, with only four errors in 35 swings.

“It felt really good tonight,” Syftestad said. “In the third set, we faltered a little bit, but our serving and passing was really strong tonight, it kept us in system, so we were able to get the middles going, and open up the pins really well. We didn’t do that as much in the third set.”

Senior outside Ian Colbert had 11 kills, hit .429, and had eight digs and two aces.

Freshman outside Xander Jimenez had eight kills, four digs and three blocks. Junior middle Alec Flowers had seven kills and hit .429.

UCSD hit .430, way over its previous best this season of .295.

“We’re keeping the confidence up, and being resilient,” UCSD coach Kevin Ring said. “We want to figuratively punch a team, and they punch back. It becomes a back and forth affair, and I thought we did that pretty well tonight. We had some leads, and we gave them up. Princeton came back, but we kept our composure and held the lead, and even increased our lead late at the end of sets.”

Corry Short of Princeton digs against UCSD/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Parker Dixon and Greg Luck had 13 kills apiece to lead a balanced Princeton attack. Kendall Ratter added 12 kills and George Huhmann had 11. Junior Oboh had nine kills and he and Dixon, who .417, had three blocks each. Luck led with nine digs.

UCI beats Cal Baptist in four: The sixth-ranked Anteaters lost the first set but then cruised to a 27-29, 25-15, 25-17, 25-16 victory at Cal Baptist. It left UCI 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the MPSF, while Cal Baptist fell to 2-6, 1-6.

UCI, which held a .369 to .092 hitting advantage, were led by middle Matthew Younggren, who hit .636 with eight kills and also had a career-high seven blocks. Middle Andrew Benz also had eight kills and hit .533. And Thomas Hodges had a match-high 16 kills to go with five blocks.  Setter Michael Saeta had a big match, complementing his 34 assists with four aces, five digs and three blocks.

Cal Baptist got 12 kills from Kevin Vaz, but he hit .032. Enrique Garcia added nine kills and hit .500 and Paul Rohit had eight kills, but hit minus -.077.

Belmont Abbey gets first win: The Crusaders improved to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in ConfCarolinas with their 26-24, 18-25, 25-19, 25-21 victory. It left Lees-McRae 2-5, 0-2.

Liam Maxwell had 14 kills and Robert Nixon 13 for Belmont Abbey. David Radoszewski had nine digs and Aaron Dierkes had six blocks, one solo. It was not an accurate attacking affair, as Lees-McRae hit .128 and the home team .187.

John Sobel led the visitors with 19 kills and Mark Shayka added 10.

Al-B, Maia Hannemann share insights from beach recruiting trip

Al-b and Maia Hanneman began their five school, eight day trip at LSU.

Al-B Hannemann is not just the NVL guy. His daughter, 15-year-old Maia, is exploring her beach-volleyball college options.

They recently took a five-school, eight-day trip, making unofficial visits to LSU, Tulane, Georgia State, South Carolina, and Florida State, and offered to share the experience with VolleyballMag.com. All five schools, while members of other conferences, compete in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association.

Father and daughter also offered recruiting advice and analysis of their trip, with Al-B offering insight that comes from both being a parent and club director.

Hannemann, the founder and CEO of the National Volleyball League and the director of the Club Med NVL Academy in Port St. Lucie, Fla., played for 18 years professionally on the beach, where his accomplishments included winning the Hermosa Beach Open. He was also a U.S. Open Champion.

Now Maia is a prospect and Al-B hopes that Maia will find a school that will fit her athletically, academically, and socially.

NCAA beach volleyball is the fastest growing college sport in the nation, with 67 teams for 2017. That’s rapid growth for a sport that started in 2012 and had its first official championship last May. Accordingly, the competition for student-athletes is intense.

Hence the road trip.

“The sport has grown to the point that college coaches are recruiting athletes younger and younger,” Al-B said. “I heard that there are a couple of eighth-graders that have verbally committed recently, which is just absurd. I don’t think that those kids are ready to make that kind of an adult decision.”

Maia Hannemann competing in the NVL qualifier at age 14.

The Hannemanns started their trip in Baton Rouge at LSU, which competes in the Southeastern Conference in all other sports.

“LSU even has a pharmacy inside of their training room, and have surgeons and dentists on staff,” Al-B said. “It’s everything set up for the student-athlete to succeed in school as well as when they get out.”

Maia was impressed that the facilities were integrated.

“You can have Heisman winners and beach volleyball players in line for the same trainer,” she said. For the record, LSU’s Billy Cannon won the Heisman in 1959, but Leonard Fournette was a finalist two years ago. But certainly LSU football players and volleyball players use that same facility.

The Hannemanns were impressed with the quality of LSU’s training equipment.

LSU is in the process of converting its on-campus tennis stadium into a custom beach facility. The Hannemanns attended the LSU vs. Ole Miss football game, with not only 100,000 in attendance in the stadium but many thousands more who tailgate and don’t even go inside.

Tulane University is one of the most respected academic institutions.

Then the Hannemanns were off to Tulane, about 80 miles east on Interstate 10. Whereas LSU is a state school and the Louisiana flagship university, Tulane is a private school that competes in the American Athletic Conference in other sports.

“Having beach volleyball makes it more attainable for kids that might not be able to get in otherwise,” Al-B said. “It’s more balanced, everyone wants a Tulane education. At Tulane, they have the expectation that ‘Wherever you go, you will be at the top of your field out of college.’ ”

Maia visits with Georgia State players.

Next up was Georgia State, a member of the Sun Belt Conference in other sports.

“Georgia State was a beautiful campus. It’s right in the heart of Atlanta,” Maia said.

“What they do there is buy buildings and turn them into different schools,” Al-B said. “They widen the sidewalks so it’s safe for the students to walk and bike to class.

“Their beach facility is right inside the city, it’s really cool. It’s beautiful and also very different.”

Wheeler Beach is South Carolina’s new beach facility.

From there the Hannemanns were off to South Carolina in Columbia, another SEC state school that is the flagship university.

“They call themselves ‘the original SC,” Al-B said. “The school was founded in the 1800s, has beautiful trees, there’s a lot of history there.”

The athletic facilities are befitting of an SEC school.

“The beach volleyball stadium was out of control,” Al-B said. “They built a giant scoreboard. They did not mess around. They went all out. Everything was first class.”

Al-B and Maia Hanneman at Doak Campbell stadium at Florida State.

The Hannemanns completed their trip in Tallahassee at Florida State, another huge university. The Seminoles, who lost in the inaugural NCAA beach final last May, compete in all other sports in the ACC.

“They have a beautiful facility. We went to the FSU-Clemson (football) game, which was super exciting. Clemson ended up winning at the very end. Their football atmosphere is awesome, and they have amazing facilities.”

FSU assistant coach Raul Papaleo leads the Seminoles through drills.

“The girls there are really strong, well-disciplined, and very well coached. Maia’s eyes lit up seeing the talent level that was there.”

While this trip was for his daughter, Al-B has plenty of experience helping other athletes through the recruiting process. He offered the following tips to parents and prospective student-athletes:

No. 1: Make sure that you would want to go to that school with or without volleyball. The college should have a strong focus on the major that the student-athlete is looking for. Be looking at the school for the right reasons. If they get injured, or something happens, be sure that you’re in a good place. If the sport helps you get into that school, then that’s even better.

No. 2: Focus on school first. That’s one of the building blocks of the NVL academy. Maia has a 4.62 GPA, that helps her qualify for more dollars than she would qualify for otherwise. Currently a fully funded beach volleyball program has a maximum of six scholarships, and typically carries 18 or 24 players, so it is very rare to get a full scholarship.

No. 3: Parents need to compare in-state to out-of-state tuition. That’s not always as simple as it sounds. For example, at Georgia State, with a 3.5 GPA, the student qualifies for in-state tuition. It is also key to look for other sources of money. We asked the coaches to provide us information on 4-10 academic scholarships that we could apply for individually, that could provide a better overall package. It’s quite possible that your grades and scores can provide more funding than beach volleyball at this stage in its development.

No. 4: I can’t stress enough how important it is to go to the college’s camp. There’s no better way to go to the campus, get used to the facilities, meet the coaches, and they can get a sense of who the student-athlete is. It also shows that the student-athlete is serious about that school. Most coaches told us that they want their athletes to love the school, because nobody wants homesick athletes. We were encouraged by the coaches to go visit all the schools of interest, and to let them know if our college is in the top three choices.

No. 5: Parents need to be proactive in the recruiting process. Parents can talk to the coaches, can send film, you can Facebook live, set up a YouTube channel, etc. There are a lot of really good resources including a current list of colleges at AVCA.org. Parents should also help their kids prepare a list of pros and cons, and that really helped us pare down the list.

Maia Hannemann at Tulane University

Those lessons aren’t lost on Maia.

“I’m looking for a school that I would enjoy even if I don’t __play volleyball” she said. “I’m leaning towards staying on the East Coast and attending a bigger school that has a strong business school and football.”

Of the five schools she visited, three stand out, she said: “LSU, FSU, South Carolina. These three have more campus life, strong business schools, and big football teams.”

VBM asked her what she liked best about those top choices.

FSU: “I like how the athletic building is in the football stadium, and that the facility is in middle of campus. The beach volleyball athletes were impressive and practices and workouts were intense.”

LSU: “The team was very nice to me and were all good friends. The campus is beautiful, all of the athletics are in the same area, and all the athletes share the same facilities, including the football players.”

South Carolina: “Loved how proud the athletes were to represent their school. I also liked how the campus is spread out, and the beach volleyball facilities were updated and had a huge scoreboard.”

Al-B Hanneman and Maia Hannemann relax at NVL Seattle.

“It’s gone full circle,’ Al-B said, “from peppering with Maia at 4 years old, to thinking about her going off to college.”

NCAA men: Ohio State, UCLA stay atop AVCA poll, the POWs and notes

Limestone's Kevin Rocklein is the Conference Carolinas player of the week

By Dennis Michael Stuart for VolleyballMag.com

Two Conference Carolinas matches Tuesday kick off a busy week in NCAA men’s volleyball.

All four leagues announced their respective players of the week and the AVCA polls show unbeaten and high-riding Ohio State is still No. 1 in the Division I-II poll.

First, Tuesday’s schedule. In Conference Carolinas, Pfeiffer (0-1 overall, 0-1 CC) goes to King (5-1, 1-0) and Limestone (3-1, 3-0) goes to North Greenville (2-6, 2-1). And Charleston of the EIVA (3-3) plays host to Bluefield, an NAIA team that is 0-3.

The AVCA rankings show the Buckeyes at No. 1 at 9-0 and riding a 32-match winning streak. UCLA stayed No. 2, but there was a little shuffling after that, as Long Beach State moved up a notch to third, trading places with BYU. Hawai’i stayed No. 5, but former No. 6 Lewis dropped to eight. The new No. 6 is UC Irvine, Stanford is seventh, and No. 9 Pepperdine and No. 10 Loyola round out the top 10.

The Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II player of the week is Miles Johnson of Ohio State. The senior right side averaged 5.11 kills per set and hit .430 in three matches, victories over Penn State, Barton and Long Beach State.

The AVCA Division III poll is out for this week and the top six remain unchanged: Springfield, SUNY New Paltz, Stevens, UC Santa Cruz, Wentworth and NYU. And the AVCA DIII POW is senior outside Gabe Shankweiler of Stevens Institute of Technology.

EIVA

Offensive player of the week: Saint Francis senior setter Daniel Ford. He averaged 11.1 assists per set in a loss to Long Beach State and a win over Barton. He also had four kills, 14 digs and four total blocks. Ford leads the EIVA in assists (366) and assists/set (10.46).

Defensive player of the week: Saint Francis sophomore Gabe Woffindin. He averaged 3.29 digs per set and for the season is second in total digs (87) in the EIVA and fourth in digs/set (2.49).

Key matches this week: Saint Francis (4-5) travels to Penn State (5-4) in the league opener for both teams. Princeton continues its California trip at UC San Diego on Wednesday and at Concordia Irvine on Friday. Sacred Heart (3-1) is home for four matches in four days against non-conference opponents Alderson Broaddus and Lincoln Memorial. Charleston has four in four, also. After facing Bluefield it goes to St. Andrews for two matches and then plays Cincinnati Christian. Harvard (1-3) also plays Alderson Broaddus for its only game this week and Mason (4-4) has the week off.

Last week’s key results: Last Tuesday, Penn State got swept by Ohio State. The biggest surprise of the week was George Mason getting swept at the MIVA’s Fort Wayne, which also swept NJIT.

Worth noting: Jabarry Goodridge of NJIT leads the league in kills at 4.19 per set. SFU’s Michael Fisher is second at 3.90. Penn State’s Chris Nugent leads in kills with 124 and is hitting .307. Princeton’s Junior Oboh leads the EIVA at .353.

Click here for the EIVA standings

MIVA

Offensive player of the week: Ohio State senior right side Miles Johnson.

Defensive player of the week: There were co-defensive POWs in Fort Wayne senior libero Scott McNerney and Ball State sophomore libero Adam Wessell. Both averaged the same amount of digs against the same teams with no reception errors for both.

Key matches this week: MIVA teams are off until Thursday, but there’s a big one that night when Ohio State (9-0) travels to Ball State (8-1) in the MIVA opener for both teams. Then on Saturday the Buckeyes go to Fort Wayne (3-8) and Ball State welcomes McKendree (5-6). Lewis  (6-2, 1-1) and Loyola (4-3, 0-0) take turns playing host to Quincy (3-4) and Lindenwood (0-7). 

Last week’s key results: Grand Canyon stunning Lewis in five was the upset of the week a day after Lewis had beaten GCU in five. McKendree got two conference wins over Lindenwood and Quincy and Ohio State swept Penn State.

Worth noting: Four teams from the league remain in the AVCA poll … Miles Johnson of Ohio State leads with 4.34 kills per set. Nicolas Szerszen is second at 4.07. Pelegrin Vargas of Fort Wayne and Mitch Perinar of Lewis lead with 127 kills each, while Johnson is right behind at 126. Sam Schindler of Lindenwood leads in hitting percentage at .404.

Click here for the MIVA standings

Conference Carolinas

Player of the week: Limestone College sophomore outside hitter Kevin Rocklein. Rocklein kept the Saints on top after leading them to a 2-0 week by averaging 2.86 kills per set, hitting .372. He also had eight digs and three blocks. Rocklein ranks seventh in the ConfCarolinas with 2.71 kills/set and ninth in four other categories: hitting (.256), points/set (3.3), aces (.29) and digs (1.86).

Key matches this week: There are plenty of league matches on tap including Barton and Mount Olive playing host to Erskine and Emmanuel. League-leader Limestone is off for 10 days after the Tuesday match at North Greenville.

Last week’s key results: Limestone got victories over Emmanuel and Erskine to open CC play. Mount Olive went to Penn State and got swept, but earlier beat Belmont Abbey. Barton went to Ohio State and lost to the home team and Saint Francis.

Worth noting: Evan Blair of Pfeiffer leads the league with 4.67 kills per set. The next closest is way behind, Mount Olive’s Robert Poole at 3.70. But John Sobel of Lees-MacRae leads with 83 kills overall. Jon Wheaton of King is hitting .438 and also leads in blocks at 1.24 per set.

Click here for the ConfCarolinas standings

Pepperdine’s David Wieczorek

MPSF

Player of the week: Pepperdine sophomore outside hitter David Wieczorek. He hit .413 and complemented 32 kills with five aces, eight digs and four blocks in nine sets in home matches against Cal Baptist and USC.

Key matches this week: UCLA goes to BYU for matches on Friday and Saturday and it’s big not only in the MPSF but also the national picture. UCSB goes to Hawai’i for Friday-Saturday matches and USC tries to get on the right track at UCI on Friday.

Last week’s key results: UCLA maintained its dominance by sweeping UCSB twice and then beat Princeton. The stunner was UC Irvine’s upset at BYU but the next night the Cougars swept UCI.

Worth noting: Nine of the league’s 12 teams are ranked. Kevin Rakestraw of Stanford leads in hitting percentage at a whopping .570, but UCLA’s Gyimah Daenan is at .562 and UCI’s Matthew Younggren is hitting .525. Ben Patch of BYU leads with 4.75 kills per set and Lucas Yoder of USC is right behind at 4.69. Rakestraw also leads in blocks at 1.23 per set, just ahead of Long Beach’s Amir Lugo-Rodriguez at 1.22.

Click here for the MPSF standings

Stetson hires Yang as indoor coach, King, N. Greenville men win

Bryant Eckstein of Charleston attacks against Bluefield/Charleston photo

Stetson has hired long-time Missouri assistant Deng Yang as its new indoor coach.

The opening was created when the school split its indoor and beach programs and coach Kristina Hernandez went to the sand.

There were three NCAA men’s matches on Tuesday, with King, North Greenville and Charleston getting victories.

Wednesday’s men’s slate includes Princeton of the EIVA (2-3) at UC San Diego of the MPSF (2-5, 0-4), a Conference Carolinas match with Lees-McRae (1-5, 0-1) at Belmont Abbey (0-4, 0-2), and in the MPSF, No. 6 UC Irvine (7-3, 4-2) at Cal Baptist (2-7, 1-5).

New Stetson coach Deng Yang/Missouri photo

Stetson hires Yang: The former NAIA player of the year was at Missouri the past 17 years. The Tigers went to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 this past season.

Yang has a tough rebuilding job ahead: Stetson went 4-25 this past season, 1-13 in the Atlantic Sun.

Yang, who is from Changzhou, China, came to America in 1998 and played two seasons for the Columbia College, which then won two NAIA national titles. In 1989 she was named the national player of the year and MVP of the national tournament.

Yang competed three years for the Chinese Junior National team and one year for the Chinese women’s national team.

“I’m so looking forward to getting to know the players and staff. I’m confident that we are going to build strong relationships and work hard together to move the program forward,” Yang said in a Stetson news release.

“We are excited for Deng Yang as she takes this next step in her coaching career,” Missouri coach Wayne Kreklow said in the release.

”I think it is a great move and a great fit for both Stetson and Deng Yang. She has been an outstanding assistant coach and has all the tools to be a great head coach. I think Stetson made a great choice and she is going to do great things.”

Openings remain: Virginia has yet to replace Dennis Hohenshelt, Indiana State needs to replace Traci Dahl-Skinner, Manhattan still has an opening created when Mark Jones left, and no one has filled the spot left by Kerry Major Carr, who resigned after 19 years at Penn. Coppin State has an opening for head coach.

Also, the website for Rhode Island, where Bob Schneck retired after 37 years, lists its head coach as “TBA.”

Tuesday’s recaps: King improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in Conference Carolinas by beating visiting Pfeiffer with the result in each set 25-13, 25-13, 25-13. It left Pfeiffer 0-2, both in CC matches.

Eddie Moushikhian led King with 10 kills and hit .625. He also had two aces and five digs. Jeff Sprayberry, Adrian Besson and Kiel Bell added five kills each. King set a school record by hitting .644.

Jesse Print had 11 kills for Pfeiffer and hit .322, but his team hit .092.

North Greenville beat visiting Limestone in an exciting five, 26-24, 15-25, 19-25, 25-14, 20-18. The fifth set was tied 15 times and Limestone led 18-17. But Kyle Brandt got a kill for North Greenville to tie it, his team went up 19-18 on a Limestone attack error and then won it on Aaron Campbell’s match-high 20th kill. It left  Limestone 3-2, 3-1 and North Greenville 3-6, 2-2.

Campbell finished 20 for 50 with seven errors and hit .260. He also had eight digs and four blocks. Grayson Lawrence had 11 kills and three digs. Matthew McManaway had nine kills and Brandt eight.

Bruno Kertzchmar led Limestone with 15 kills, hitting .357, and had nine digs. Kevin Rocklein, the reigning CC POW, had 14 kills and three aces and Dylan Lavner had 10 kills.

Charleston of the EIVA improved to 4-3 by beating winless Bluefield of the NAIA 25-16, 25-10, 25-8.

Rajahl Moxey and Bryant Eckstein led with nine kills each and Moxey had five blocks. Bluefield, 0-4, hit minus -.107.

Irvine upsets BYU, Lewis with a comeback win

UCI's Tamir Hershko scores a season-high 19 kills in an upset win over BYU/UCI athletics

It was a busy Friday night around the men’s college scene that included UC Irvine’s upset win on the road against No. 3 BYU and the nation’s top two teams adding another notch to their respective victory columns, while Lewis University overcame a two-set deficit to win and No. 12 George Mason suffered a loss to Fort Wayne. All of this ahead of tonight’s showdown in Columbus, Ohio between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Long Beach State.

We start in the MPSF where Irvine, ranked No. 7 in the country, outlasted BYU 25-23, 28-26, 32-34, 21-25, 15-12 in a contest that took two hours and 42 minutes to complete at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah.

Irvine moved to 7-2 and 4-2 in MPSF action, while BYU dropped to 6-2 and 2-1 and had an eight-match home winning streak halted. This was the final MPSF match between the two teams with Irvine moving to the new Big West men’s volleyball conference.

Irvine recorded a season-high 14 blocks in the match and held a 34-32 digs advantage over BYU. MPSF leader Dillon Hoffman had a match-high 11 digs for Irvine. Senior Tamir Hershko had a match and season-high 19 kills to go with four blocks and three aces. Thomas Hodges added 13 kills and three block assists, while freshman Scott Stadick tied his career-best with nine kills and eight block assists. Fellow freshman Matthew Younggren had a career-high seven kills and five total blocks. Senior Michael Saeta had 44 assists, five kills, six digs and three aces. Sophomore Karl Apfelbach had a career-best nine digs and five block assists.

Jake Langlois led BYU with 17 kills. Brenden Sander had 15 kills, while Ben Patch had 14 kills.

The two teams __play tonight again in Provo at 7 p.m., MST, but the match is considered a non-conference one under the new league format.

The rest of the MPSF schedule on Friday saw winning teams lose only one set. No. 2 UCLA ran its mark to 8-1 overall and stayed atop the loop standings at 6-0 with a 3-0 victory over host UC Santa Barbara (6-3, 3-3) at the Thunderdome.

UCSB’s Jacob Delson winds up against UCLA/Veronica Arvizo

The win was UCLA’s sixth in a row. Mitch Stahl led the Bruins with five aces. Daenan Gyimah had a team-high 12 kills and hit .647. Jake Arnitz and JT Hatch had 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Hagen Smith had four kills, 18 assists, seven digs and one block. Jackson Bantle had eight digs, while Micah Ma’a had 21 assists and six digs. UCLA hit .420 in the match.

Dimitar Kalchev of No. 15 Cal State Northridge had 15 kills against Hope International/Paul Trafecanty

Stanford kept pace with UCLA in the MPSF loss column with a 3-0 win over Cal Baptist (2-7, 1-5), while Northridge moved to 8-3 overall with a 3-0 win over Hope International.

Jordan Ewert leads Stanford in a 3-0 win over Cal Baptist/Stanford Athletics

Jordan Ewert led Stanford (6-2, 3-0) with 12 kills and three aces. Redshirt junior Kevin Rakestraw had nine kills and hit .667, while producing six of Stanford’s 14 blocks. Evan Enriques, playing against younger brother and Cal Bapist libero Emmett Enriques, had 10 digs. Jackson Burge and Enrique Garcia each had seven kills.

Hawaii (7-2 overall) swept NAIA No. 1 Grand View and Long Beach State went to 7-1 overall with a non-conference 3-1 win over St. Francis in a match played at Ohio State.

The Rainbow Warriors extended their home winning streak at Stan Sheriff Center to 10 matches and won its 18^th match in a row against non-MPSF teams.

Sophomore Stijn van Tilburg led Hawaii with 10 kills in two sets of action. Freshman Rado Parapunov had nine kills in nine attempts playing only the third set, while freshman Austin Matautia had five kills and five digs. Hawaii hit .368. Grand View, which finished second in NAIA last year, dropped to 3-1. The two teams __play again Sunday in Honolulu.

Long Beach State hit the road to Columbus, Ohio, site of the 2017 NCAA men’s Division I-II finals, and came away with a 3-1 win over EIVA entrant Saint Francis. TJ DeFalco led the 49ers with 21 kills and hit .302. Kyle Ensing added 15 kills.

Josh Tuaniga had 50 assists and 12 digs, notching his first double-double of the season. Andrew Sato, a senior libero, had a career-high 23 digs to go with 21 receptions without an error. Sato has 804 career digs, ranking him third all-time in Beach men’s volleyball annals.

Michael Fisher’s 22 kills led St. Francis. Stephen Braswell had 11 kills, while Daniel Ford had 44 assists. Gab Woffindin posted 13 digs and Jeff Hogan had 10 digs for the Red Flash.

Long Beach faces national No. 1 Ohio State tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern in Columbus.

Over in the MIVA, No. 6 Lewis was taken to the brink by host Grand Canyon University. The Flyers rallied from a two-set deficit and match point in the fourth set to earn the 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 28-26, 15-13 win. Lewis upped its winning streak to six matches and notched its fourth five-set win in its last five matches. Lewis was 1-8 in five-set matches last year.

Mitch Perinar tied a career high with 27 kills and hit .438. He accounted for 43.5 percent of the Flyers’ kills. He also had a season-high eight digs. Redshirt Freshman Ryan Coenen had 15 kills, while sophomore setter Matt Yoshimoto had 52 assists. Middle Jacob Schmiegelt had nine total blocks.

The two teams play again Sunday in Arizona at 1 p.m. MST.

No. 1 Ohio State played 13 players in its 3-0 win over Barton College. It was the Buckeyes’ 31^st win a row dating back to last year. A win against Long Beach State tonight would tie the program record for most wins in a row.

Miles Johnson notched is 123^rd career service ace, tying the all-time program record, while Nicolas Szerszen upped his career ace total to 121. Sanil Thomas handled setting duties and had 37 assists. He was filling in for All-American Christy Blough, who had taken a red-eye flight back from California Friday morning following a West Coast medical school interview for the biomedical engineering major. Ohio State hit .413 as a team in the win.

In other MIVA action, Ball State was a 3-1 winner over New Jersey Institute of Technology. Freshman Matt Szews led Ball State with 11 kills and hit .400. Brendan Surane had eight kills and moved into 13^th place in school history (rally-scoring era) with 595 career kills. Connor Gross had 28 assists, while freshman Courtland Scharenborghad had 17 assists. Adam Wessell added 12 digs.

“The three sets we played well in, we did really well with ball control,” said Ball State coach Joel Walton. “It was a lot of pressure on their defense to get the right blockers into place. In set three, we stopped passing. It’s a different feel when you’re playing behind instead of at front. We worked hard and got to the point where we had a chance in the third set.”

Other MIVA-related action saw Fort Wayne sweep No. 12 George Mason. Pelegrin Vargas had nine kills, seven digs and four blocks, while Richie Diedrich had seven blocks and hit .833. It was Fort Wayne’s first win over a Top 15 team in nearly two years.

McKendree moved to 4-6 overall with a non-conference 3-0 win over Charleston. Wyatt Patterson led McKendree with nine kills and hit .800. Maalik Walker and Jared Wilcox each had nine kills.

In the EIVA, No. 14 Penn State was a 3-0 winner over Mount Olive at Rec Hall.

“I thought tonight’s match was one where we show our dominance in stretches,” said Penn State coach Mark Pavlik. “I think then we kind of put the lunch pail down and got away from just getting after it and then we’d pick it back up. This was a team that gave us eight points in Game 1, gave us eight points in Game 2 and in gave us 6 points and forced us to go to 19.”

Chris Nugent led Penn State with 14 kills, hit .417 and had two digs. Lee Smith tied his season and career high with 12 kills and hit .450, while adding a season-high five digs. Kevin Gear added six kills, while Calvin Mende had five kills. Luke Brawsell had 41 assists and Matthew McLaren had two aces.

In Conference Carolinas play, Lincoln Memorial was a 3-2 winner over Lees-McRae. Lincoln moved to 3-5 overall, while Lees-McRae dropped to 2-4.

NCAA men: UCLA, Hawai’i, Grand Canyon score victories

Two MPSF teams won non-conference matches Sunday as No. 2 UCLA beat visiting Princeton and No. 5 Hawai’i beat visiting Grand View.

There was a big upset in the MIVA, as Grand Canyon knocked off visiting No. 6 Lewis in five.

First a look at upcoming matches in the four NCAA men’s volleyball conferences.

The next MPSF matches are Wednesday when UC San Diego plays host to Princeton and No. 7 UC Irvine (7-3, 4-2) goes to Cal Baptist (2-7, 1-5).

The next EIVA match is Tuesday when Charleston (3-3) plays host to Bluefield College, another team from West Virginia. The Rams are 0-3.

The next MIVA match is Thursday and it’s a big one, when No. 1 Ohio State (9-0) opens league __play at No. 13 Ball State (8-1).

And in Conference Carolinas, there are two matches Tuesday when Pfeiffer (0-1, 0-1) goes to King (5-1, 1-0) and Limestone (3-1, 3-0) is at North Greenville (2-6, 2-1).

MPSF: UCLA, Hawai’i win

The Bruins improved to 9-1 by sweeping Princeton 25-15, 25-23, 27-25. Junior JT Hatch led with 14 kills, hit .345, and added a block. Michael Fisher and Hagen Smith had five kills each. Fisher had eight blocks and six digs, while Oliver Martin had seven blocks.

Princeton, which dropped to 2-3, got 14 kills from Kendall Ratter, who hit .360. Greg Luck and Junior Oboh had six kills each. The Tigers had one ace and 15 service errors. They stay in California to __play at UC San Diego (2-5) on Wednesday.

Hawai’i had to go four to beat Grand View 25-16, 25-13, 19-25, 25-23.

Hawai’i improved to 8-2 as Rado Parapunov led with 11 kills and Larry Tuileta and Stijn van Tilburg had 10 each. Hendrick Mol led the Warriors with four of his team’s eight aces. Joe Worsley had 10 digs.

Grand View, top-ranked in the NAIA, fell to 3-2 after losing to the Warriors for the second time in three days. John Chamone and Pedro Cardoso led with 12 kills apiece, while Tim Johnson had 11.

MIVA: Grand Canyon upsets Lewis

Grand Canyon came from down 2-1 to stun visiting Lewis 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13 after losing to the Flyers two days earlier. Grand Canyon improved to 4-4, 3-1.

“I could not be more proud of this team to compete and be resilient for the entire weekend,” Grand Canyon coach Matt Werle said. “The box score for both teams is almost identical, but we preached that if we out-defended them, then we would win. We had eight more digs than Lewis. All that I can say is that this was a team effort for the weekend.”

The fifth set was tied at every point through 10. GCU took the lead but it was tied again at 13 before Matthew Kinnebrew’s kill and a Lewis attack error ended it.

The Lopes set a season-high by hitting .366. Lewis, who was hitting .500 through three sets, faltered down the stretch, hitting just .114 in the final two sets.

Kinnebrew led with 17 kills, hit .452, and had six blocks. Shalev Saada  had 14 kills and Ashton King 12.

Lewis dropped to 6-2, 1-1. Kyle Bugee led with 17 kills and hit .419. John Hodul had eight kills, hit .583 and had five blocks. Mitch Perinar had 16 kills and Ryan Coenen had 11.

Stanford hires Kevin Hambly from Illinois to replace John Dunning

Kevin Hambly had a record of 178-86 at Illinois/Illinois photo

Kevin Hambly, the Illinois coach the past eight seasons, said he wasn’t looking for a job and the only one he would have even considered was Stanford.

Now he’s become the sixth head coach of one of the most prominent jobs in college volleyball, taking over a storied Stanford program that not only won the 2016 NCAA championship, but returns almost its entire roster.

The job opened earlier this month when John Dunning retired after 16 years at the helm. Stanford has won seven NCAA titles — tied for the all-time most with Penn State — including 2001, 2004 and in December under Dunning.

Kevin Hambly on going to Stanford: “For me it’s the best job.”

Hambly had a record of 178-86 at Illinois. That included 17-14 last season when the Illini went 10-10 in the Big Ten and failed to get an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2012, the year after Hambly took his team to the 2011 NCAA final match. He was the 2011 Volleyball magazine (now VolleyballMag.com) national coach of the year.

“For me it’s the best job,” said Hambly, 43, who went to Stanford last Thursday and Friday and accepted the job on Saturday. “It fits my culture, it fits the way we operate perfectly. It stood out to me as I was going through the interview that we as were talking about the culture that I operate in and that I want to have the program emulate, they were saying the exact same thing. It was really in concert and the more I was there I could see that it was a good fit for me and I was hoping it would be for them.”

He told his Illinois team Monday morning.

“It’s hard. I’ve known all these kids since they were freshmen in high school,” Hambly said, “The kids I committed to be here for, that’s gutting. I love them. I truly love them like they were my own daughters. It’s going to be hard to see them from afar and if we were to __play them that would be really difficult.

“I’ll always feel like an Illini. I feel like I grew up here as a coach and as a man, really. I came in as a 30-year-old and I’ve been here 13 years and feel like I’ve grown up. It’s been a really cool place to grow up in with amazing people.”

Hambly had high praise for new Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman and is optimistic for the future for his old program.

“It’s a much better job than when I found it and I’m really proud of that,” Hambly said. “I’m really proud of what I did while I was here. What we accomplished and not just wins and losses. You always want to win more — I’d take one more win in 2011 — but how we operated and the class that the program exuded the entire time is what I’m most proud about.

“It should be a job that people are excited to be a part of and they should be excited to to work for Josh.”

Hambly, from Simi Valley, Calif., played at BYU from 1992-95 where he had an All-American career as a middle blocker. His time at BYU overlapped with, among others, another Big Ten coach in Minnesota’s Hugh McCutcheon.

He played professionally in France, coached a men’s club team in Northridge, Calif., before joining the staff at UNLV for four years.

He then served as an assistant at Illinois from 2004 to 2008 — earning his degree at Illinois in 2006 — before being named the head coach in 2009 when Don Hardin retired after 13 years. In 2014 he signed a three-year extension that extended his contract through 2019.

“I am thrilled to welcome Kevin, Mary and their daughters to the Stanford family,” Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir said in a news release. “Kevin is not only a great coach and teacher of the game, but he possesses the same values that make Stanford special.

“With a strong core returning from the national championship team, I have no doubt that Kevin will keep our women’s volleyball team among the nation’s elite. I believe he will maintain the integrity and sportsmanship this program is built on while ensuring our student-athletes reach their full potential on the court, in the classroom and beyond The Farm.”

Hambly is a former president of the AVCA and worked extensively with the USA national team in various capacities.

Stanford’s existing staff includes longtime associate head coach Denise Corlett, who has been with the Cardinal for 27 years. Cassidy Lichtman, a former Stanford player, joined the staff last season.

“I need time to talk to people and figure out what it’s all about,” Hambly said. “Right now I’m not sure.”

Interestingly, he leaves behind a staff that includes Jason Mansfield, who joined Hambly last spring at Illinois after 14 years on staff at Stanford.

Stanford, which finished 27-7 last season, 15-5 in the Pac-12 where it tied for second with UCLA behind Washington, won its last 10 matches, six in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal beat Texas in the NCAA title match with a roster led by senior middle Inky Ajanaku, the VolleyballMag.com player of the year, but also four starting freshmen: Outside Kathryn Plummer, middle Audriana Fitzmorris, setter Jenna Gray and libero Morgan Hentz.

Stanford’s Morgan Hentz lunges for a dig in 2016 NCAA semifinal action/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

“I’m very excited to see what the future holds because we’ve only heard great things about him so far,” said Hentz, who added that the Cardinal team was told of Hambly’s hire Monday morning. “Obviously we’re going to miss John but we’re really excited.”

What’s more, it’s assumed that the 2015 national freshman of the year, Hayley Hodson, will return to the Cardinal in 2017 after sustaining an injury and leaving school early last season.

“It’s a great team to inherit with high expectations and it’s a different thing to manage than they had to manage last year,” Hambly said. “So to navigate that is going to be a fun problem to solve together and see how that works. But certainly the talent is there to do some incredible things the next several years and that’s exciting.

“But honestly, that was exciting but that wasn’t the main reason I wanted to take the program. I would have taken it if it was a down year. It’s an amazing place and Bernard is a really special athletic director, as is Beth (Goode, senior women’s administrator). They’re just special people the minute we were there.

Hambly’s wife, the former Mary Coleman, is from the Chicago area and not only played at Illinois (1995-98) but was also an assistant coach (2004-06). They met in 2001 and went to Illinois together. They have two daughters, Quinn and Maura.

“Once she saw Palo Alto and what it and we looked into the schools and all that, she was pretty excited to get our family out there,” Hambly said.

Whitman had nothing but praise for his outgoing coach.

“Kevin Hambly has done an outstanding job leading our volleyball program to a position of national prominence during his eight years at the helm,” Whitman said in an Illinois news release. “He approached every day with passion, pride, and great integrity. His student-athletes performed as champions on the court, in the classroom, and in their respective lives. We will miss Kevin, Mary, and their daughters in our program and our community, and we wish them the best as they return to Kevin’s native California.

“Here, we look forward to identifying the next dynamic leader who will continue the program on its upward trajectory. We are excited to usher in a new championship era of Illinois Volleyball.”

Ohio State ties school record 32 consecutive wins, BYU gets revenge

Ohio State's Nicolas Szerszen reacts after scoring the final kill of the night, tying the all time school record of 32 consecutive wins/Brianna O'Mara, Ohio State

Saturday’s men’s college action was punctuated by a meeting between No. 4 Long Beach State and top-ranked Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, plus Pepperdine was taken to the brink by USC in Malibu, Calif., and BYU returned the favor in Provo.

Let’s get started in Columbus where the defending national-champion Buckeyes are inching closer to history after a 3-1 victory over Long Beach State.

Ohio State ran its record to 9-0 and now has won 32 matches in a row dating back to last week. The 32 wins in a row ties a program record that stood since the 1969-1970 seasons. Ohio State went 24-0 in 1969 and then won its first eight matches in 1970. Current-day, Ohio State last lost a match on Feb. 6, 2016.

During this stretch, the Buckeyes have won 96 of 115 sets (83 percent) and hold wins over six Top-5 opponents. Nearly half the wins (15) have come against teams ranked in the Top 12 nationally.

The win moves the Buckeyes closer to Loyola-Chicago’s 40-match winning streak in 2014-2015 and UCLA’s 47 wins a row, which is believed to be the all-time record.

Individually, Ohio State’s Miles Johnson recorded his 124^th career service ace to break the all-time school record that has stood since the 1990s. However, teammate Nicolas Szerszen tied him 37 minutes later with his 124^th career ace.

Johnson and Szerszen combined for 38 kills and each hit mover .300. Johnson had 22 kills and hit .395, while Szerszen had 16 kills and hit .312. Maxime Hervoir had eight kills, while setter Christy Blough directed the team to a .342 hitting percentage. Gabriel Domecus had 14 digs and has 45 digs in the last 13 sets spanning four Ohio State victories.

TJ DeFalco’s 19 kills led Long Beach State (7-2). He also hit .382. Kyle Ensing had 13 kills. Josh Tuaniga had 38 assists and three aces. Ensing and Andrew Sato each had seven digs.

Fort Wayne’s Alex Dickmann, Richie Diedrich, and Colton Stone challenge NJIT’s Brad Thele/Fort Wayne Athletics

Staying in the MIVA, Fort Wayne pushed its winning streak to three in a row with a 3-0 sweep of New Jersey Institute of Technology at the Gates Sports Center in Fort Wayne. Pelegrin Vargas had 13 kills, while Graydon Schroeder had nine. Schroeder hit .571. Scott McNerney added 11 digs after starting at libero for the third match in a row.

McKendree upped its winning streak to four after a 3-1 victory over Alderson Broaddus in Lebanon, Ill.

Jared Wilcox paced McKendree with 14 kills, three aces and five digs, while senior right side Andrew Schnittker had 13 kills and hit .423 to go with six digs and two blocks. Senior outside Dustin Borenstein had seven kills, while senior middle Michael Polizzi had six kills and a match-high five blocks. Setter Pasquale Fiduccia had 44 assists and 10 digs in notching a double-double.

And in a MIVA contest, Quincy opened up conference __play with a 3-1 home victory against Lindenwood. Quincy has won three matches in a row.

Kolbie Knorr had 16 digs and helped the Hawks hit a season-high .300 in the match. David Siebum had 16 kills with only one error and hit .536. Jarrod Kelso and Shane McAdams each had eight kills. Kelso also had a season-high eight blocks.

Sam Schindler’s 17 kills (.367 hitting percentage) paced Lindenwood (0-7, 0-4 MIVA).

Pepperdine’s Dave Wieczorek gets one of his 17 kills against USC/Martin Folb, Pepperdine

Over in the MPSF, three other matches featuring league teams were on tap Saturday, including a thriller in Malibu, Calif., where No. 9 Pepperdine overcame a first- and third-set deficits to outlast USC in five 20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 15-11.

Sophomore Michael Wexter led the Waves with 19 kills and hit a career-high .444 to go with nine digs and four blocks. David Wieczorek added 17 kills and hit .536 to go with a season-best four aces. Mitchell Penning had five blocks and seven kills, while hitting .357. Setter Joshua Stewart finished with 43 assists and added eight digs.

Gianluca Grasso paced USC with 18 kills on 42 swings. Andy Benesh had 12 kills, while Woody Cook had 11 kills. Aaron Strange and Connor Inlow each had nine kills. Gert Lisha dished out 53 assists, while Cook had 11 digs.

BYU’s Ben Patch takes on the UC Irvine triple block/BYU photo

In Provo, Utah, one night after being upset by No. 7 UC Irvine, No. 3 BYU returned the favor with a 3-0 sweep in what counts as a non-conference contest due to new MPSF scheduling rules.

“We were a lot more confident and assertive from the service line, so I was really proud of the guys for doing that,” said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead. “There was good energy as well. We stayed a lot more composed than we did last night. The guys wanted a redo. They felt like they let a few things slip through their fingers last night and they wanted this shot. I was excited for them.”

Jake Langlois led BYU with 12 kills and hit .500. Ben Patch had 12 kills and four digs, while Leo Durkin had 32 assists and five digs. BYU moved to 7-2, while Irvine fell to 7-3.

Thomas Hodges led Irvine with eight kills. Tamir Hershko had seven kills. Michael Saeta had 26 assists and Dillon Hoffman had nine digs. Irvine hit .189 in the match.

UC San Diego was a 3-2 winner (23-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-22, 16-14) over Hope International.

EIVA action Saturday saw Penn State cap off a 2-0 weekend with a 3-1 win over Coker. Lee Smith led the Nittany Lions (5-4) with 16 kills, while hitting .407. Chris Nugent added 12 kills and hit .400. Kevin Gear had seven kills with no errors in eight swings to hit .875. Calvin Mende finished with 12 kills and hit .476.

Penn State hit .479 as a team. Luke Braswell had 49 assists and the Nittany Lions had 58 kills as a team with only 13 errors.  Bobby Wilden had three aces. Mende had nine digs, while Smith had eight. Penn State also had 19 block assists and three solos.

Joao Victor Santos had 19 kills to pace Coker (3-5). Luca Berger added nine kills and hit .467.

The other match at Ohio State was Saint Francis dispatch Barton in three sets. Saint Francis moved to 4-5 with the win. Barton dropped to 3-3.

Michael Fisher’s 12 kills paced Saint Francis, while Jeff Hogan added eight kills and hit .312. Daniel Ford had 34 assists and Gabe Woffindin had 10 digs.

Vasilis Mandilaris had 12 kills and hit .360 for Coker.

Over in the Conference Carolinas, Limestone ran its mark to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in CC __play with a 3-0 win over Erksine (0-4, 0-2).

Kevin Rocklein led Limestone with eight kills. Drew Davis added six kills and Logan Riley had 22 assists. Joel Muhlbach had four block assists.

Isaac Lanier had nearly half of Erksine’s kills. He finished with 13. Daniel Fralix had six. Bryan Cardozo had 10 digs. The match took 79 minutes to complete.

Finally, North Greenville outlasted host Emmanuel (Ga.) 3-2. North Greenville moved to 2-6, 2-1, while Emmanuel fell to 1-5, 0-2.

Aaron Campbell’s 16 kills led North Greenville, while Matthew McManaway added 10 kills. Alexander Schinzing had 41 assists. Dustin King had 20 digs, while Campbell added 10 digs. North Greenville won the match despite hitting .089.

Ackeem West led Emmanuel with 16 kills. Gilberto Cervantes had 12 kills. Caleb Bonaventure had 48 assists, while Manuel Melenciano had 15 digs—one of four Emmanuel players to hit double figures in that category. The match took two hours and 15 minutes to complete and featured a combined 289 swings.