Sinjin Smith is best known as a beach-volleyball legend, but he was also a two time national champion and All-American indoors at UCLA. His son, Hagen, is currently a senior at UCLA. So he’s pretty well-versed on today’s men’s game as well. Coinciding with our story on volleyballs, we had spoken with Smith about just that — volleyballs. Here’s his take:
“I’ve been working on this one for a long time. It’s the ball itself.
“Everyone wants to change the game and make the game better. The athletes are bigger and stronger and the ball travels really fast. In the men’s case, it’s so fast you can’t react. That’s why in the women’s game you have rallies. The ball isn’t traveling as fast.
“So if you wanted to actually make the game more interesting to the public and see more rallies, slow the ball down.
“On the beach it’s a softer ball already. The ball doesn’t travel as fast and you’re able to cover everything. If the men played with a ball indoors that was as soft as the beach ball, it would slow down, there would be more digs, the ball would stay in __play more and it would be a more interesting game to watch.”
Smith said there are a lot of different ways to make it happen.
“There’s the bladder, there’s the cover, there’s the inflation — how many pounds of pressure — the technology is there to do what you want with the frickin’ ball these days.”
Brady-gate coming to volleyball?
“And the size of the ball, too. Make it bigger. Just a couple of centimeters, change the circumference. Particularly for the men.”
UCSB's Jacob Delson attacks against UCSD's Tanner Syftestad/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Friday was upset-free in NCAA men’s volleyball, unless you consider No. 7 UC Irvine beating No. 6 UCLA an upset.
Otherwise, the teams with the better records won every match in the four Division I-II conferences, where there’s a breakaway in the MPSF and Princeton stayed alone in first in the MIVA.
And Penn of the Ivy League finally has a new women’s coach, Katie Schumacher-Cawley.
But first Saturday’s NCAA men’s schedule.
Start in the MPSF, where No. 13 UC Santa Barbara goes to UC Irvine and UCLA tries to bounce back at UC San Diego.
The MIVA has three matches, including No. 5 Lewis — which beat crosstown rival No. 9 Loyola on Friday — going out of conference against Mount Olive of the Conference Carolinas.
Also, Fort Wayne goes to Lindenwood and No. 12 Ball State goes to Quincy.
The EIVA, which has three teams one game or less chasing Princeton in the standings, has No. 15 Penn State at Charleston, Princeton at Sacred Heart — and if Sacred Heart wins they would be tied for the lead — Saint Francis at George Mason and NJIT at Harvard.
ConfCarolinas has King at Limestone, North Greenville at Lees-McRae and Pfeiffer at Erskine. Emmanuel goes out of conference at Lincoln Memorial.
UCI’s Tamir Hershko scores a season-high 23 kills in a five-set win over visiting UCLA/UCI athletics
MPSF: UCI, UCSB among the winners
We start in Irvine, Calif., where the Anteaters almost let a 2-0 lead slip away, but held on to down visiting UCLA 25-23, 28-26, 22-25, 21-25, 17-15 in front of 2,253 fans at the Bren Center.
UC Irvine moves to 5-0 in five-set matches and 10-5 overall (7-4 MPSF). UCLA dropped to 10-7 and 7-6 in conference play.
Senior Tamir Hershko had a season-high 23 kills to lead Irvine. Thomas Hodges added 18 kills, wihle Aaron Koubi had a career-best 11 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Senior Michael Saeta had 52 assists, eight digs, four kills and one ace, while freshman Scott Stadick, a Wisconsin native, had seven kills and three total blocks.
Christian Hessenauer’s 16 kills paced UCLA. Jake Arnitz had 13 kills, while Dylan Missry had 11 kills. Micah Ma’a had 42 assists, four kills and three block assists. UCLA held a 12.5-4.0 blocking advantage.
Irvine’s match against UCLA was its annual Think Pink breast cancer awareness night. The team honored Tee Sohacki, a two-time breast cancer survivor, before the event.
UCSB’s Corey Chavers takes on the UCSD triple block/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
VolleyballMag.com’s Ed Chan was at UCSB’s 25-19, 25-20, 25-14 MPSF win over UC San Diego at RIMAC Arena.
Senior outside hitter Jacob Delson led the Gauchos with 11 kills and 12 digs. It was his third double-double of the season and fifth of his career. Delson’s efforts helped Santa Barbara snap a seven-match losing streak after the squad had started the season 6-1.
“It felt great to finally beat the losing streak,” Delson told VBM’s Chan after the match. “We broke it tonight and I hope it carries into tomorrow (against Irvine). We talked about this in film. If we just keep the pressure on them, they are more prone to make errors because we have a pretty good block. We showed that tonight, we’re getting great touches.”
Freshman middle blocker Keenan Sanders had nine kills on 13 swings. Connor Drake had seven kills, hit .429 and had seven total blocks. Santa Barbara had four players score 10 or more points in the contest.Hayden Boehle added five kills and seven digs. Parker Boehle had nine digs. Casey McGarry finished with 34 assists.
Santa Barbara, which had five service aces against 11 service errors, improved to 7-8 overall and 4-8 in league play.
“Tonight we had one of our better serving matches of the year,” Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin said. “Our biggest thing is serving real tough and keeping them off the net a bit. We’ve been working on that a lot and hope we can do it again (tonight against Irvine).”
Tanner Syftestad had 10 kills for UC San Diego, which fell to 5-10, 2-8. Ian Colbert added four kills, while Milosh Stojcic had 20 assists.
No. 2 Long Beach State dispatched No. 14 USC 25-17, 25-12, 25-15 at the Walter Pyramid to improve to 15-2 and remain in first place in the MPSF at 11-1.
Long Beach State, which moved to 6-0 at home and 8-0 in February, hit .524, never slipping below .400 in any of the three sets. The 49ers had 38 kills on only 63 attempts, while committing just five hitting errors.
“I’m just glad they came out with a significantly better sense of competitiveness and sense of urgency to __play every point here tonight,” Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe said. “There is no doubt a lot of the little things went our way tonight, unlike the beginning of our match Wednesday night (a four-set win over Cal Baptist) where a lot of little things didn’t go our way in the first set.
“The lesson learned for us is to keep pressuring and good things usually happen. I like the response by the guys to come out and be ready to go right out of the gate for whatever they are going to bring at us.”
Sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga had 33 assists and two kills, two aces, five blocks and four digs. TJ DeFalco led Long Beach State with 14 kills and hit .550. It was his 15th double-figure kill contest of the season. Kyle Ensing added nine kills on 16 swings with no errors, hitting .562. The 49ers took advantage of 11 USC service errors, four blocking errors and six reception errors.
USC fell to 6-10, 5-8. Lucas Lossone and Ryan Moss led the Trojans with five kills each. Gert Lisha had 21 assists, while Lossone and Blake Markland each had three digs.
No. 3 BYU completed a sweep at Stanford, this time notching a 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 26-24 victory over the No. 8 Cardinal at Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center.
“I’m proud of the way the guys played tonight,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We knew Stanford wasn’t about to throw in the towel after that first set. They are a really good, disciplined team. We had a great couple wins this week that helped us get better as a team.”
Jake Langlois led the Cougars with 14 kills and 12 digs, while also registering a team-high eight blocks. Erik Sikes had a career-high 15 digs and Leo Durkin had 45 assists. Price Jarman had a career-high 10 kills while adding a season-high eight blocks. Tim Dobbert and Joseph Grosh each added seven blocks to help BYU move to 14-2, 8-1.
The Cougars remain tied with Long Beach State in the loss column atop the MPSF, however Long Beach State has three more league wins.
BYU registered 18.5 total team blocks (all block assists), while Stanford had 11.
Stanford dropped to 9-7 overall and 6-5 in conference play. Gabriel Vega led the Cardinal with 14 kills, while Jordan Ewert had 10 kills. Kevin Rakestraw finished with eight kills and Clay Jones had seven kills. Paul Bischoff had 35 assists. Evan Enriques had 13 digs, while Bischoff had 10 digs. Stanford hit .165 in the match.
At the Stan Sheriff Center, No. 4 Hawai’i downed visiting No. 10 Pepperdine 25-21, 25-19, 25-11. The 25-11 third-set win for Hawai’i was the largest margin of victory ever in the all-time series with Pepperdine.
Hawai’i is 15-2, 6-2. Pepperdine is 6-6, 4-5. The two teams __play again Sunday.
Hawai’i extended its winning streak to 10 matches and its set streak to 17. The Rainbow Warriors won for the 14th time in a row at home and 10th this season.
Sophomore right-side hitter Stijn van Tilburg had 15 kills and hit .737i. Senior outside Kupono Fey had 10 kills and hit .500. Hawaii hit .460 in the match.
Mitchell Penning’s 11 kills led Pepperdine.
In other MPSF action, No. 11 Cal State Northridge was a 25-21, 25-20, 25-22 winner over Cal Baptist. CSUN is 11-6, 4-6, while Cal Baptist is 3-13, 1-11.
MIVA: No. 1 Buckeyes, Lewis keep rolling
No. 1 Ohio State was a 25-19, 17-25, 26-24, 25-23 winner over Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. The Buckeyes improved to 16-0 and have the longest winning streak in The Ohio State University athletics history for teams competing in head-to-head competition, 39 in a row. Ohio State has won 117 of 140 sets (84 percent) during that stretch. The win against Grand Canyon was Ohio State’s 17th in a row in a true road-match environment.
The Buckeyes need eight more wins to tie the 1979-1980 and 1983-1985 UCLA teams for most wins in a row in NCAA men’s volleyball history. Ohio State also is looking to record just sixth 40-match winning streak in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball history.
Ohio State overcame 29 service errors. Ohio State remains atop the MIVA standings at 7-0 ahead of Lewis (7-2), Grand Canyon (5-2) and Loyola (5-2).
Maxime Hervoir, who entered the match in the second set, had 11 kills on 15 attempts with one error, hitting .667. He added three block assists and scored 13.5 points.
Miles Johnson had 20.5 points, which included 17 kills, four blocks and an ace. Christy Blough had 46 assists and quarterbacked the Buckeyes to a .354 team hitting percentage. He also had nine digs. Driss Guessous and Blake Leeson combined for 19 kills.
In Chicago, visiting Lewis outlasted area rival Loyola 19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 15-11 at Gentile Arena.
Lewis won its sixth five-setter of the year (most during coach Dan Friend’s tenure) and it also was the Flyers’ fourth straight win after losing the first set in a match.
Mitch Perinar led the Flyers with a match-high 15 kills, while Ryan Coenen had 13 kills and hit .417. Lewis moves to 12-3 overal, 7-2 MIVA. Sophomore setter Matt Yoshimoto had 42 assists and eight digs.
Loyola drops to 9-5, 5-2.
In other MIVA play, Fort Wayne traveled to Quincy and notched a 24-26, 25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 16-14 win at the Pepsi Arena.
Pelegrin Vargas led Fort Wayne with 22 kills and hit .341. He also had 10 digs to notch his first career double-double. Michael Keegan had 43 assists and 10 digs for his third double-double of the year. He also had a career-high six kills. Alex Dickmann had 10 digs and seven kills. Fort Wayne moves to 5-13, 2-5, while Quincy drops to 3-11, 1-7.
No. 12 Ball State was a 3-1 winner over Lindenwood in St. Charles, Mo. Brendan Surane, Matt Walsh and Matt Szews each had 10 kills. Walsh hit .562 and also had six block assists and one solo block. Freshman Nick Lavanchy had nine digs. Setter Connor Gross recorded 37 assists, seven digs and four block assists. Ball State moves to 12-4, 4-3.
EIVA: Princeton, Penn State notch victories
Princeton moved into sole possession of first place in the conference with a 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 17-25, 15-10 win at Harvard. It was Princeton’s first win at Harvard since 2010.
Princeton moves to 6-6 overall and 4-1 in EIVA action. The Princeton win coupled with New Jersey Institute of Technology’s win over Sacred Heart, leaves the Tigers as the only one-loss team in conference play.
Parker Dixon, the current AVCA national player of the week, led the Tigers with 18 kills. Junior Oboh had 15 kills on 29 swings (.448 hitting), while George Huhmann had 12 kills on 21 swings (.476 hitting). Huhmann added seven blocks.
Casey White had 16 kills to lead the Crimson (4-6, 2-3).
No. 15 Penn State ran its record to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in EIVA play with a 25-21, 17-25, 25-16, 25-17 win over George Mason (5-8, 2-4).
Aiden Albrecht led the Nittany Lions with 18 kills on 25 attempts (.520 hitting). He also had four digs. Jalen Penrose added 14 kills and hit a match-high .714. Luke Braswell had 41 assists, while Lee Smith had six digs. Penn State hit more than .600 over the final two sets and hit .376 in the match.
Langston Payne’s nine kills paced George Mason.
In Technology’s win at Sacred Heart, Jabarry Goodridge led with 21 kills on 48 swings (.333 hitting). Luke Robbe had seven kills and hit .462, while Raymond Kowalski had nine kills and hit .273. The Highlanders (7-6, 3-2 EIVA) hit .300 in the match.
Christopher DeLucie had 13 kills, while Michael Comens added 12 kills for Sacred Heart, which falls to 10-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
Saint Francis headed to Charleston W. Va. And scored a 3-1 win over Charleston. Brandon Buck’s 10 kills led Saint Francis. Daniel Ford had 10 digs and four blocks. Ryan Santos and Byron Hurd each had 10 kills for Charleston, while Donovan Wilmott had eight kills and hit .500 (one error on 14 swings).
A light night of action in Conference Carolinas saw Barton record a 3-0 win over Coker and Emmanuel (Ga.) sweep Pfeiffer.
Vasilis Mandilaris and Angelos Mandilaris each had 11 kills for Barton, while Angelos Mandilaris added 11 digs. Gabriel Castro had nine kills for Coker. Gary Baker added eight digs.
Aleksa Lakic’s 13 kills paced Emmanuel, while Caleb Bonaventure had 43 assists. Lakic also had 11 digs for a double-double.
Penn fills women’s vacancy
Schumacher-Cawley comes to Penn after 14 years at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC), including the last eight as head coach. She had 113 wins at UIC, third on the program’s all-time list, and oversaw UIC’s first Horizon League title in seven years when the Flames won it in 2012.
Schumacher-Cawley played at Mother McAuley High School in Chicago and is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. She played collegiately at Penn State, where she was a two-time All-American. She was on Penn State’s 1999 NCAA-championship team.
She replaced Kerry Major Carr, who resigned after 19 years. Penn was 10-16 in 2016, 5-9 in the Ivy League.
VolleyballMag.com continues its long-standing tradition of bringing you the latest in volleyball-related equipment, gear and apparel. We kick off our new-and-improved Supplier Spotlight section with a look at the latest in indoor and outdoor volleyballs. Please visit the supplier websites for further information.
Indoors
Molten setter’s volleyball The Molten setter training volleyball (model V5M9000-M) is designed for the athlete committed to reaching a higher level of competition. At 14.1 ounces, the V5M9000-M promotes strength and quickness to bring out each setter’s peak performance on the court, Molten notes. Slightly lighter than a typical setter’s ball, it is intended to be used in game-like situations and drills and is ideal for high-repetition setting practice. The unique panel shape, modeled after Molten’s elite FLISTATEC volleyballs, dramatically increases the ball’s visibility in flight, the company adds. Features a micro-fiber composite cover and is nylon-wound. www.moltenusa.com
Wilson i-Cor HP volleyball Wilson’s i-Cor high-performance volleyball offers the ultimate combination of control durability and power, the company states. Covered in Japanese full-grain leather and built with latex power lining and proprietary i-Cor construction, the ball provides a premium touch and feel on every shot, Wilson adds. The i-Cor has an inner structural layer that provides a strong foundation to the ball, while the outer structural layer allows for better control and durability. www.wilson.com
Baden Perfection leather volleyball The Baden Perfection leather volleyball is a top-of-the-line volleyball for all aspects of the game and for all levels of play, the company notes. Baden’s innovative tanning process softens the feel of its leather to battle the sting on touch blocks or digs. The blended cotton wrap ensures shape and air retention for reinforced strength and durability. A butyl bladder provides the optimal weight for velocity and performance hit after hit. Baden adds. www.badensports.com
Mikasa MVA200 The new Mikasa MVA200 indoor volleyball has a unique 8-panel design and aerodynamic dimpling that offers better stability and ball control, the company notes. With Mikasa’s exclusive Micro-Fibre cover, the touch and feel of this ball has brought praise from players and coaches worldwide and has become the indoor ball of choice for all nations,” Mikasa says. The MVA200 is the official FIVB game ball. www.mikasasports.com
Tachikara 5W-PRIME Tachikara’s 5W-PRIME elite competition volleyball is the company’s latest innovation in Tactile Technology. Featuring a new T-TEC Micro-Leather that is specifically engineered to provide an enhanced tactile playing experience with increased ball control, Tachikara notes. The ball is NFS approved and ships inflated and ready for play. www.tachikara.com
Outdoors/All-Around
Spalding/KOB tour and replica balls Partners Spalding and King of the Beach and Queen of the Beach recently released their official 2017 tour balls and replica ball of the 2017 Spalding King of the Beach and Queen of the Beach Tour. The premium composite leather construction on the tour ball is unmatched and is a favorite ball of players on tour, the companies note. The re-design includes a gold foil for the King of the Beach logo, and the white Queen of the Beach logo ball allows players to color in their favorite design. The balls are available nationwide at select sporting goods retailers including Sports Authority, Target, Walmart, Big Five, Dicks Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, Dunhams, Hibbets, VolleyballUSA.com and Kohls.com, as well as on the websites www.kingofthebeach.com and www.spalding.com. KOB, which features brand ambassadors Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith, has more than 1,500 tournaments scheduled nationwide in 2017 with 52 tour locations. www.spalding.com www.kingofthebeach.com
Mikasa VLS300 The Mikasa VLS300 is the outdoor ball used by all national teams as well as in all FIVB competitions worldwide, including the past 2012 London Olympics, the recent 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The VLS300 model features a unique 10-panel design and the blue/yellow/white curved-panel design enables players to pick up on the movement or rotation of the ball with ease, while improving control when passing or hitting. The cover material is a “Super Composite,” which is high-grade supple material that is extremely durable yet flexible and resistant to water, which is extremely important when playing in inclement or humid conditions, Mikasa explains. The VLS300 is made from patented lock-stich construction that enables the ball to maintain its true spherical shape. www.mikasausa.com
New AVP game volleyball The new Wilson AVP volleyball is a collaborative effort where player feedback directed the design of the ball. The ball offers premium graphics for better spin detection, as well as a microfiber composite leather cover that provides superior touch, Wilson states. The pebbled TPE cover allows for enhanced durability and control during play. The 18-panel machine-sewn construction reinforces optimal shape retention. Made with a butyl rubber bladder for extended air retention. www.wilson.com
Molten Light Touch volleyball USA Volleyball approved, Molten’s Light Touch volleyball is a lightweight indoor/outdoor volleyball designed for athletes ages 12 and under. The ultra-soft-cushioned polyurethane cover provides a soft touch, allowing young athletes to __play comfortably while providing the durability needed to withstand __play in any environment. The ball is machine stitched. www.moltenusa.com
Baden Sandshark sand volleyball The Baden Sandshark is a premier sand volleyball used by the USC beach volleyball team. The hand-sewn microfiber cover endures the elements of outdoor sun, sand and sweat. The butyl bladder provides the optimal weight for velocity and performance hit after hit, Baden notes. www.badensports.com
Tachikara PARTY SofTec volleyball The new Tachikara SofTec PARTY volleyball is made with a soft foam-back composite for virtually no sting during play, the company notes. The fun starburst patterns and colors make it a great all-around volleyball for all levels. www.tachikara.com
There were just two matches in NCAA men’s volleyball among the four Division I-II leagues Thursday, as No. 4 BYU swept No. 8 Stanford and Erskine did the same to Belmont Abbey.
But Friday’s schedule is loaded, especially in the MPSF, in what has become a top-heavy league, BYU (13-2, 7-1) gets Stanford (9-9, 6-4) again, first-place and No. 2 Long Beach State (14-2 overall, 10-1 MPSF) gets suddenly hot No. 14 USC (6-9, 5-7), and No. 6 UCLA (10-6, 7-5) goes to No. 7 UC Irvine (9-5, 6-4).
No. 10 Pepperdine begins its two-match trip to No. 4 Hawai’i (14-2, 5-2).
No. 13 UCSB (6-8, 3-4) plays at UC San Diego (5-9, 2-7) and last-place Cal Baptist (3-12, 1-10) goes to No.11 CSUN (10-6, 3-6)
In the MIVA, top-ranked Ohio State plays (15-0, 6-0) plays host to Grand Canyon (9-5, 5-1) in a big chance for the Lopes to keep pace and make a statement, and there’s a lot on the line in Chicago when No. 5 Lewis (11-3, 6-2) goes to No. 9 Loyola (9-4, 5-1), with the loser no doubt falling two games back of Ohio State. No. 12 Ball State (11-4, 3-3) entertains lowly Lindenwood (0-12, 0-7) and Fort Wayne (4-13, 2-4) goes to Quincy (3-10, 1-6).
Entering the season you might have bookmarked Friday’s EIVA match between No. 15 Penn State (9-6, 4-2) at George Mason (5-7, 2-3) as one of the biggest of the season, but now the loser could be fighting for survival. Also, Princeton (5-6, 3-1), tied for first with Sacred Heart, plays at Harvard (4-5, 2-2) and NJIT (6-6, 2-4) is at Sacred Heart (10-2, 3-1). Also, Saint Francis(6-9, 2-4) goes to Charleston (7-6, 0-3).
There are two matches in Conference Carolinas, when last-place Pfeiffer (0-6, 0-6) goes to Emmanuel (3-10, 2-6) and Barton (9-4) goes out of the league to entertain Coker.
BYU overpowers Stanford: The Cougars won 25-21, 25-20, 25-21.
Jake Langlois led the Cougars with 14 kills and hit .375 to go with five digs. He also had an ace and three of hits team’s 17 service errors. Tim Dobbert had nine kills, eight digs and four blocks. Brenden Sander had 10 kills and hit .438, four digs and three blocks, and four of those service errors. BYU had five aces.
“Tonight was a great team performance,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “As a team, we’ve been working each day in practice to improve on a few things, and I thought we made progress there.”
Gabriel Vega led Stanford with 10 kills and Eric Beatty added eight.
Erskine sweeps Belmont Abbey: Erskine improved to 2-10, 2-6 in Conference Carolinas with its 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 win. It left Belmont Abbey 3-9, 2-6. Isaac Lanier had 17 kills and hit .406 for the winners and added eight digs.
There were no matches Thursday in the MIVA or EIVA.
All-Americans Tionna Williams, Chloe Collins, Sarah Wilhite, and Micaya White at the AVCA banquet/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
In attending the AVCA All-Americans banquet, we were very impressed with the student-athletes. Not only were they superbly fit and athletic, but their fashion sense was impeccable.
We asked Wild Pepper Sports’ designer Audrey Taylor to comment on the fashion trends of 2017 so well illustrated by the AVCA All-Americans. Taylor, who has also designed for brands like ASICS, Mizuno, Banana Republic, The Gap, and Patagonia, provided the following video fashion commentary starring 2016 women’s college stars:
And just like that Penn State is back in first place in the EIVA.
The No. 15 Nittany Lions beat last-place Charleston on Saturday night, Sacred Heart thumped Princeton to knock the Tigers out of first and move into second, and Saint Francis made sure George Mason stayed in its downward spiral.
There are results to report on from the MIVA — where Lindenwood got its first victory of the season — the MPSF — where Jacob Delson had 34 kills in a loss — and Conference Carolinas, but first a look at Sunday’s very limited schedule.
There are three matches involving teams from the four Division I-II conferences on Sunday.
Top-ranked Ohio State (16-0, 7-0 MIVA) faces Grand Canyon (9-6, 5-2) as the Buckeyes go for their 40th win in a row and second victory in three days at GCU.
In the MPSF, No. 10 Pepperdine (6-6, 4-5) plays atNo. 4 Hawai’i (15-2, 8-2) trying to avoid a second loss in three days to the Warriors.
There is one match in the Conference Carolinas, when Mount Olive (9-6) continues its out-of-conference sojourn at Lincoln Memorial. The Railsplitters have won three in a row and are 6-9.
The EIVA is off until next Friday.
EIVA: Nittany Lions leap into first
Penn State cruised at Charleston 25-20, 25-13, 25-16 to improve to 11-6 overall, 6-2 in the EIVA, while the home team fell to 7-8, 0-5.
Lee Smith led with nine kills and hit. 562. He also had four digs and a block. Jalen Penrose had eight kills and hit .400 and Matt Callaway had eight and hit .429. Penrose had four of his team’s six aces and five of its nine service errors to go with a dig and a block. Callaway had an ace, an error, two digs and three blocks, two solo.
Charleston got 12 kills from Byron Hurd, who hit .348. The team from West Virginia had no aces and 11 errors.
Princeton’s time alone atop the league was ended at Sacred Heart 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-18.
It left the winners 11-3, 4-2, as the Tigers fell to 6-7, 4-2. In other words, Penn State is in the lead, but tied with Sacred Heart and Princeton in the loss column.
Christopher DeLucie led the winners with 15 kills and hit .393. He had one of his team’s four aces and four of its 19 errors. He also had six digs and three blocks. Emerson Waumans added 13 kills, hit .348 and had two digs and two blocks, one solo. Sacred Heart hit .351 as a team with four aces and 19 errors.
Princeton’s Parker Dixon had 14 kills and hit .375. He had four of his team’s 18 service errors. Kendall Ratter had 12 kills and hit .444, one of those aces and five of the errors. He had five digs and two blocks. George Huhmann had seven kills, hit .429, four errors and five blocks. Princeton hit .350.
Saint Francis improved to 8-9, 4-4 and is in fourth place after rallying to beat slumping George Mason (5-9, 2-5) 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-14,15-12.
While SFU won for the fourth time in a row, Mason (5-9, 2-5) lost for the fourth time in a row and eighth time in nine matches.
Jeff Hogan led the Flash with 15 kills, 10 digs and five blocks and Michael Fisher added 15 kills. Stephen Braswell had 11 kills and a match-high six service aces. Keith Kegerreis added five blocks.
Jack Wilson led Mason with 13 kills. Kyle Barnes had 10 kills and Langston Payne eight and four blocks.
Also in the EIVA, Harvard swept visiting NJIT 25-20, 25-23, 25-18. It left Harvard 5-6, 3-3, while NJIT dropped to 7-7, 3-3, putting the teams in a tie for fifth but just one game back in the loss column. Erik Johnson led Harvard with 11 kills, while Jabarry Goodridge had 15 for NJIT.
MIVA: Ball State, Lewis, Lindenwood win
No. 12 Ball State routed Quincy 25-18, 25-14, 25-17as freshman Matt Szews led with 16 kills and hit .577. He also had four aces and four digs. Matt Walsh had nine kills and four blocks, one solo. Jarrod Kelso led the home team with 14 kills.
No. 5 Lewis rolled past visiting Mount Olive of Conference Carolinas 5-17, 25-20, 25-19. Lewis is 13-3, while Mount Olive is 9-6. Tom Beckman led Lewis with 10 kills and Trevor Weiskircher added nine and five digs. Robert Poole led MO with 10 kills.
In a league mach, Lindenwood beat Fort Wayne for its first victory of the year after 13 losses. The Lions are 1-8 in MIVA __play after its 19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 18-16 win. Fort Wayne dropped to 5-14, 2-6.
Jake Duckworth led with 14 kills. Sam Schindler added 13 and Michael Shard and Blake Koppel 10 each. Connor Hipelius had 10 blocks, one solo, and seven kills. Schindler had two of his team’s five aces and nine of its 25 errors.
Colton Stone led Fort Wayne with 16 kills and Richie Dietrich had 13 and hit .600.
MPSF: UCLA, UC Irvine win
No. 6 UCLA won at UC San Diego 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21 to improve to 11-7 overall, 8-6 in the MPSF. The Bruins got 15 kills from Christian Hessenauer, who hit .333 and had eight digs. Jake Arnitz had 12 kills and hit .400 and Dylan Missry had 11 kills and hit .444. He also had three blocks and seven digs and a career-high four aces.
UCSD, 5-11, 2-9, lost for the sixth time in a row. Tanner Syftestad, who hit .406, and Ian Colbert , who hit .300, led with 14 kills each.
No. 6 UC Irvine certainly earned its 25-23, 25-27, 18-25, 28-26, 18-16 over No. 13 UC Santa Barbara as it improved to 11-5 overall, 8-5 in the MPSF and 6-0 in five-set matches.
His team fell to 7-9, 4-9, but Jacob Delson had 34 kills for UCSB, hitting .375. He also had four digs and four blocks.
Tamir Hershko led UCI with 19 kills, while hitting .417. Thomas Hodges followed with 14 kills, Scott Stadick had a career-high 13 kills and eight block assists and Aaron Koubi matched his career-high with 11 kills. Dillon Hoffman had 11 digs, while Michael Saeta had 48 set assists, five kills and five block assists. Matthew Younggren hit .625 with five kills on eight attempts.
The Anteaters had 31 service errors, 10 by Hershko, who had one of the team’s three aces. Michael Saeta had eight errors.
Keenan Sanders added 14 kills for UCSB and hit .632. His team had three aces and 19 errors, meaning the two squads combined for six aces and 50 errors.
ConfCarolinas: King, Erskine, L-M get league wins
King swept Limestone 25-23, 25-21, 25-17 and maintained its tie in first with Mount Olive at 13-2, 8-1. Limestone dropped to 6-5, 6-4. Kiel Bell led King with 11 kills and hit .556.
Erskine improve to 3-10, 3-6 with its 25-20, 25-19, 25-18 sweep on winless Pfeiffer 0-8, 0-8. Issac Lanier led with 13 kills and hit .360 and teammate Daniel Fralix had 10 kills and hit .400. Evan Blair had 14 kills for Pfeiffer.
Lees-McRae beat North Greenville 25-19, 25-16, 25-23 and is 5-9, 3-6. NG is 4-11, 4-5. John Sobel led with 15 kills and hit .325 and Mark Shayka had 13 kills and hit .435. Matthew McManaway led NG with 15 kills and hit .522.
Emmanuel lost in five to Lincoln Memorial 25-22, 20-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-13. Emmanuel is 4-11, LM 6-9.
