NCAA: Penn State clinches EIVA, Pepperdine upset in beach

The men’s college second season officially kicks off today. We’ll run down that schedule here in a second, as well as check out late regular-season action in the EIVA where Penn State clinched the regular-season title and potential drama for the fourth and final tournament seed there could occur Saturday. All of that plus top 10 college beach results from Friday that included a huge win for No. 4 Florida State.

MIVA, MPSF ready to roll

The MIVA and MPSF tournaments both kick off today with quarterfinal action.

In the MIVA, defending national-champion Ohio State faces No. 8 seed Quincy at home. No. 7 Lindenwood heads to No. 2 Lewis, while No. 6 McKendree is at No. 3 Grand Canyon. No. 5 Loyola Chicago faces No. 4 Ball State in Muncie, Ind.

Ohio State is the second MIVA team in the last 25 years to go undefeated in conference regular-season play.

Lewis won both its matches against Lindenwood (taking 6 of 7 sets), while Ball State and Loyola split the season series. Ball State won a week ago at home.

Over in the MPSF, regular-season champion Long Beach State hosts USC. The two teams split the season series, with USC’s win coming in early January.

Other quarterfinal action has No. 5 UCLA traveling to No. 4 UC Irvine. The two teams split that series with Irvine winning 3-2 at home in late February.

No. 6 Pepperdine is in Honolulu to face No. 3 Hawaii. Hawaii won both contests against Pepperdine at home in late February (both by 3-0 scores). No. 7 Stanford faces No. 2 BYU in Provo, Utah. BYU won both matches against Stanford on the road this season.

Penn State clinches EIVA title

The EIVA came a night closer to finishing its regular season Friday with four contests, headlined by Penn State clinching its 19^th EIVA regular-season title in a row.

Penn State downed visiting Charleston 3-0 to move to 18-10 overall and 10-3 in conference play. The Nittany Lions clinched the No. 1 seed in the EIVA tournament next week, which it will host.

“I thought our middles did an outstanding job. That was part of the game plan,” said Penn State coach Mark Pavlik. “I don’t think this will rank up there with some of our best performances, but I think it was a lunch-pail performance, workman like, let’s get in, do what we need to do to get the job done and that’s exactly what we needed tonight.”

Aiden Albrecht’s 11 kills led Penn State. Luke Braswell had eight digs. Byron Hurd had 12 kills for Charleston (12-16, 0-13).

EIVA regular-season action wraps up Saturday with Harvard at NJIT, Charleston at Saint Francis, Sacred Heart at Princeton and George Mason at Penn State.

Penn State, Saint Francis and Princeton all have clinched EIVA tournament berths. Sacred Heart will secure the final berth with a win at Princeton Saturday.

If Sacred Heart does not win and is tied with NJIT, George Mason and/or Harvard, the EIVA tiebreaker system will go into effect. If two or more teams are tied for a position within the conference, the tie shall be broken by the first differentiating of the following criteria: 1) Head-to-head match record; 2) Head-to-head sets won against each other; 3) Set winning percentage within the division; 4) Head-to-head points among the tied teams; 5) Points against teams within the division; 6) Coin toss.

A tie between Sacred Heart and George Mason would give George Mason the berth because it swept the season series against Sacred Heart. A tie with Sacred Heart and Harvard gives Harvard the berth. The two teams split the season series, but Harvard won five sets head-to-head against Sacred Heart’s three.

A tie between SHU and Technology means the third criteria has to be used and that can’t be determined until both teams conclude their matches Saturday because they each won a match head-to-head by a 3-1 score.

A tie between Sacred Heart, Mason and Harvard means Mason earns the berth because head-to-head records have GMU at 3-1, Harvard at 2-2 and Sacred Heart at 1-3.

A tie between Sacred Heart, Mason and Technology means Mason earns the berth because head-to-head records have Mason at 3-1, Technology at 2-2 and Sacred Heart at 1-3.

Sacred Heart is 7-6 in conference play, while Technology, Mason and Harvard each have 6-7 records.

Back to Friday action, Saint Francis was a 3-0 winner over George Mason. Saint Francis moved to 14-14 and 9-4 in EIVA action, while George Mason fell to 13-13 and 6-7. Saint Francis clinched the No. 2 seed in next week’s EIVA tournament.

Jeff Hogan’s 23 kills and .579 hitting percentage (1 error on 38 swings) led Saint Francis. Michael Fisher added 12 kills, while Daniel Ford had 43 assists and Hogan chipped in 11 digs.

Jack Wilson had 11 kills for George Mason.

Sacred Heart was a 3-1 winner over NJIT in Newark, N.J. Emerson Waumans had 18 kills and hit .519 for the winners. Eduardo Zardo had 34 assists and Joshua Ayzenberg had 11 digs to help Sacred Heart move to 14-10 and 7-6. NJIT fell to 13-12 overall and 6-7 in conference play. Jabarry Goodridge had 17 kills for NJIT.

In Princeton’s 3-0 win over Harvard, Kendall Ratter had 11 kills for the Tigers, while Parker Dixon had eight digs. Princeton hit .468 in the match. Casey White and Erik Johnsson each had 13 kills for Harvard (9-13, 6-7). Princeton moved to 12-12 and 8-5 in conference play.

No. 2 Pepperdine falls

A number of top 10 teams were in action Friday at the Florida State Invitational, including No. 4 Florida State’s 3-2 upset of No. 2 Pepperdine at the Seminole Beach Volleyball Courts.

“Last time we played Florida State it was just as close,” said FSU coach Brooke Niles. “We grinded out a little better at the end. I told them before the match to expect every match to go 16-14 in the third set, so I think they were mentally prepared for the long run.”

The win over Pepperdine gives FSU at least one victory over every program it has ever faced since beach become a collegiate sport in 2012.

“The top courts have been a battle for us all year,” said Niles. “We are such a good point-scoring team that we get frustrated if we don’t score points. This match was really won on our side of the court and side out. We have done a really good job focusing on that this half of the season.”

The match came down to the No. 1 court where FSU’s Leigh Andrew (graduate senior) and sophomore Brooke Kuhlman faced Pepperdine’s top pair of Delaney Knudsen and Madalyn Roh. FSU won the first set 21-19 with Pepperdine winning the second 21-16. FSU led 7-3 in the tiebreaker, but Pepperdine rallied to get within 14-13 just as FSU had tied the match at 2-2 on Court 2. Andrew’s kill then ended the match and gave the Seminoles the win.

Andrew finished with 18 kills, while Kuhlman had 15 kills. Each player had three aces.

“This win is awesome,” said Andrew. “It feels so good to win at home and beat them and hopefully get a better seed in the NCAA tournament. We are going to celebrate this win, but we will be back at it tomorrow.”

FSU faces Grand Canyon, Florida International and Pepperdine again Saturday.

Hawaii’s Taylor picks up No. 100

The No. 5 Hawaii women’s beach team was a 5-0 winner against Saint Mary’s at the First Foundation Easter Classic Friday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex in Honolulu.

The match was highlighted by Hawaii senior Nikki Taylor earning her 100^th career win.

Taylor teamed up with Ka’iwi Schucht to score a 21-10, 18-21, 15-13 win on the No. 2 court. Taylor is the second Hawaii beach player to reach 100 wins, joining two-time All-American Katie Spieler. Taylor needs three wins to surpass Spieler’s all-time record of 102 victories.

Hawaii, which now has 11 shutouts this season, improved to 22-5 and has won four matches in a row. Saint Mary’s dropped to 16-7. Hawaii had straight-set wins on three courts.

Also of note, Hawaii’s Mikayla Tucker and Morgan Martin secured the shutout with a 21-13, 16-21, 15-12 win over Lindsey Knudsen and Payton Rund, the team that halted the 103-match winning streak of USC standouts Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes.

The two teams square off again today in Honolulu.

LSU ties program wins record

No. 7 LSU tied the program record for wins in a season at 20, extended its winning streak to 18 matches and shut out both Texas A&M-Kingsville and Louisiana-Monroe Friday at the Mango’s Beach Volleyball Club of Sherwood Forest.

LSU plays Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 10 Georgia State Saturday to close out its home regular season.

“All week we’ve been talking about improving and ramping up,” said LSU coach Russell Brock. “This is the time of year where we want to be better than we’ve been up until this point. The mentality is to come out (Saturday) and push to be a better version of our team.

“We have the ability to __play better just by doing what we do at a more successful rate. Our goal is to make better decisions, hit better shots and to really fight. That last match against Louisiana Monroe really showed we’re in it and ready to do what we have to do to continue to get better.”

LSU’s Claire Coppola and Kristen Nuss are now 14-1 at the No. 1 flight and sport an overall mark of 22-3. The No. 3 duo of Katie Lindelow and Olivia Powers have won 17 of their last 18 matches and are 17-3 on the season.

LSU is 42-3 in its last nine matches and has six shutouts against teams during that span.

More NCAA beach

In other FSU action, No. 9 Stetson lost three times Friday to Pepperdine (5-0), Florida International (3-2) and No. 10 Grand Canyon (3-2).

Grand Canyon split its Friday matches, losing to Florida International (4-1) and defeating Stetson (3-2).

At LSU, No. 10 Georgia State defeated Louisiana Monroe (3-2) and Spring Hill (4-1). Georgia State’s Chelsea Ross and Delaney Rohan improved to 19-9 on the season with a pair of wins.

MIVA tournament preview, Ohio State’s Szerszen leads postseason honors

Ohio State men's volleyball vs McKendree Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio/Photo/Jay LaPrete

MIVA regular-season champion and top-ranked Ohio State is sitting pretty right now.

The Buckeyes head into this weekend’s MIVA tournament knowing if they continue to win they will not need to leave the friendly confines of St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio for the remainder of the season.

Ohio State opens tournament __play at home Saturday with a quarterfinal tilt against No. 8 seed Quincy. Other quarterfinal matches Saturday feature No. 7 Lindenwood at No. 2 Lewis; No. 6 McKendree at No. 3 Grand Canyon; and No. 5 Loyola Chicago at No. 4 Ball State. The tournament reseeds after the quarterfinals. The semifinals occur Wednesday, April 19 at the higher seeds and the tournament final is slated for Saturday, April 22 at the highest remaining seed.

“Top to bottom the field is good,” said Ohio State setter Christy Blough. “We’re playing Quincy and we just went to four sets with them. Anything can happen. Hopefully with the home court, we’ll have that advantage the rest of the playoffs, but right now we’re taking it one game at a time.”

Ohio State (27-2) is only the second team in the last 25 years to go undefeated in MIVA regular-season play, following the 2014 Loyola Chicago team’s 14-0 effort. Ohio State has now won 31 matches in a row against MIVA competition.

Ohio State’s Miles Johnson prepares for a spike vs McKendree Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio/Photo/Jay LaPrete

“I think the biggest thing is we got ourselves refocuses after the Penn State match,” said Ohio State coach Pete Hanson. “We’ve seen a renewed energy in the kids. We are continuing to harp on them about needing to stay true to ourselves in terms of serving mentality and staying aggressive. We are starting to __play to our strength: serve aggressively, get the ball to the setter and our side-out offense is working well.”

Blough stressed the need for the Buckeyes to be on top of their game on defense as well.

“At tournament time we’ll see other teams play good defense because their life depends on it so hopefully our defense will match that,” he said.

Hanson also sees a competitive MIVA field. “There are some strong teams and always the chance for upsets,” he said. “We saw that last year with McKendree going to Muncie and beating Ball State. Grand Canyon clearly has to be excited about hosting a match and they had their highest finish before they leave for the MPSF next year. I’d like to think we can take care of business in the quarterfinals and then going forward you have to continue to play well to keep winning.”

No. 2 seed Lewis (22-6) holds 3-0 and 3-1 wins against Lindenwood this season. After losing in five to Ohio State at home in five, the Flyers come into the tournament having won four contests in a row.

“We are competing hard as a whole group. It’s not just the guys on the floor, but the guys on the bench as well,” said Flyers coach Dan Friend. “We still have a great work ethic about us, improving the small areas every day, which is important late in the season. Our net play has been pretty good lately along with our serving pressure and we want to keep that up.”

Lewis sophomore outside hitter and team captain Jake Walenga knows Lindenwood will be ready to play when it hits Romeoville and the Neal Casey Arena Saturday.

“It’s a pretty competitive conference from top to bottom,” he said. “It’s been shown throughout the regular season that any team, regardless of seed or standing, can come out and beat a team. We’ve had success in the regular season against our conference, but it wasn’t without going five more than a few times. It should make for an exciting tournament and possibly a few upsets.”

Ohio State’s Hanson mentioned the success Grand Canyon has enjoyed this season. The Lopes head into their home contest against McKendree with a 17-10 overall record (Grand Canyon went 11-5 in MIVA action). The Lopes defeated McKendree 3-1 and 3-2 in Lebanon, Ill., during the regular season.

“Our team is doing a number of things well right now, but most importantly we are finding a way to win,” said Grand Canyon coach Matt Werle. “I am a big believer that you must learn how to win and this group of guys has learned how to win over the past couple of seasons. We have a well-balanced offense and our serve-receive has been strong all season. Luckily, if one or two of our starters aren’t playing well, we have a number of options on the bench who will fill in perfectly.”

The 4-5 matchup Saturday has Loyola Chicago heading to Muncie, Ind., to face No. 4 seed Ball State (18-9). Ball State won 3-0 a week ago at home against Loyola, but lost 3-0 in Chicago in February.

“This time of the year seeding goes out the window and you earn wins by how your team performs each night,” said Ball State coach Joel Walton. “The team that wins the MIVA tournament will be battle-tested and ready to compete in the NCAA tournament.”

Ball State setter Connor Gross sees his team starting to put everything together at the right time. “Our team’s focus and execution on the little things are beginning to come through,” he said. “Our defensive intensity is showing more and more each game and our offense has been on par as well. We also have a few guys serving at a really high level, which is making it much easier for our block and defense to work.”

Loyola (16-11) has lost three of its last five contests. “I think there is intrigue in the middle of the pack, maybe more son than in year’s past,” said Loyola coach Mark Hulse on the MIVA tournament field. “We are coming in seeded lower than we’d like to be, but I think there are other teams outside the top four that feel like they could win a match or two. That said, I think all four host gyms have proven to be great volleyball venues at times this year and we could be looking at some solid home-court advantages throughout the playoffs.”

MIVA Postseason Awards:

Ohio State junior outside hitter Nicolas Szerszen has been named the MIVA player of the year for the second year in a row, while Ball State outside hitter Matt Szews and Lewis outside hitter Ryan Coenen both were named MIVA freshman of the year. Ohio State’s Pete Hanson is the MIVA coach of the year.

Szerszen, who was the 2016 MIVA player of the year, is the 10th individual in league history to twice earn the honor. In league play, he was second in the conference in kills per set (3.37) and attack percentage (.404). His 38 aces (0.68 pet set) in conference play led all players. He was named the MIVA offensive player of the week and AVCA national player of the week on Jan. 10. He helped the Buckeyes to a perfect 16-0 record in league play.

Szews was third in the league in conference play with 3.57 kills per set. He hit .242 while recording 1.81 digs per set. He recorded 22 double-digit kill matches including a season-high 23 vs. Grand Canyon.

Coenen shares the freshman of the year honor with Szews due to a tie in the voting. Coenen hit .295 with 3.20 kills per set, sixth-best in the league. He was named the MIVA defensive player of the week on March 21. He had 20 double-digit kill matches. Coenen is the second consecutive Flyer to earn the honor as Mitch Perinar earned the award last season.

This is Hanson’s 13th MIVA coach of the year honor.

All-MIVA First Team:

• Matt Szews, Ball State – OH – Fr.
• Matt Walsh, Ball State – MH – Jr.
• Ryan Coenen, Lewis – OH – R-Fr.
• Mitch Perinar, Lewis – OPP – R-So.
• Michael Simmons, Lewis – L – R-So.
• Matt Yoshimoto, Lewis – S – So.
• Jeff Jendryk, Loyola – MH – Jr.
• Christy Blough, Ohio State – S – Sr.
• Miles Johnson, Ohio State – OPP – Sr.
• Nicolas Szerszen, Ohio State – OH – Jr.

All-MIVA Second Team:

• Connor Gross, Ball State – S – Sr.
• Cullen Mosher, Grand Canyon – OH – R-Jr.
• Drake Silbernagel, Grand Canyon – MH – Sr.
• Ben Plaisted, Loyola – OPP – Jr.
• Collin Mahan, Loyola – OH – So.
• Wyatt Patterson, McKendree – MH – Sr.
• Maalik Walker, McKendree – OPP – Sr.
• Gabriel Domecus, Ohio State – L – Sr.
• Driss Guessous, Ohio State – MH – R-Sr.
• Jarrod Kelso, Quincy – MH – Jr.

All-MIVA Honorable Mention:

• Brendan Surane, Ball State – S – Sr.
• Pelegrin Vargas, Fort Wayne – OH – Fr.
• Sky Engleman, Grand Canyon – L – Jr.
• Michael Milstein, Grand Canyon – S – Sr.
• Jacob Schmiegelt, Lewis – MH – R-Sr.
• Connor Hipelius, Lindenwood – MH – So.
• Sam Schindler, Lindenwood – MH – Fr.
• Pasquale Fiduccia, McKendree – S – Jr.
• Brendan Schmidt, McKendree – MB – R-Jr.
• Maxime Hervoir, Ohio State – OH – Jr.

All-Freshmen Team:

• Matt Szews, Ball State – OH
• Nick Lavanchy, Ball State – L
• Pelegrin Vargas, Fort Wayne – OH
• Ryan Coenen, Lewis – OH
• Kyle Bugee, Lewis – OH
• Sam Schindler, Lindenwood – MB
• Ian Cowen, Loyola – S

Springfield, Dominican, Vassar, Wentworth top DIII men’s bracket

The NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship field has been set and the host team, Springfield, will lead the way in Springfield.

The western Massachusetts team, ranked No. 1 in the AVCA coaches poll all season, is one of the four teams to get bids into the quarterfinals.

Joining Springfield (26-2) in the round of eight are AVCA No. 8 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League winner Dominican of Illinois (26-2), second-ranked Vassar (26-7), and Wentworth Institute of Technology (27-6), the Great Northeast Atlantic Conference winner and the No. 5 team in the AVCA poll.

First-round matches will be played Saturday with the winners advancing to Springfield on April 28. The semifinals are the next day and the championship match is set for 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, April 30.

Springfield awaits the winner of No. 9 Hunter College (27-6), the winner of the City University of New York Athletic Conference, against North Eastern Athletic Conference winner Penn State University, Altoona (26-6).

Dominican will __play the winner of the match between New England Collegiate Conference champion Endicott College (21-10) and third-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology (29-5).

Vassar gets the winner of Skyline Conference-champion Kean University (26-8) versus State University of New York at New Paltz (24-8), which is ranked No. 4.

Wentworth plays the winner of the match between Continental Volleyball Conference champion  Juniata College (21-10) and 10th-ranked New York University (18-9), which won the United Volleyball Conference.

Click here for the NCAA bracket.

Carlini gets Sullivan Award, Barton wins CC, UIC hires SIU’s Ingram

From left: Lauren Carlini's parents, Tony and Gale, Carlini, AAU president/CEO Roger Goudy, Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield and former Olympic running star Jim Ryun.

Wisconsin setter Lauren Carlini was named the 87th 2017 AAU James E. Sullivan Award winner as the most outstanding U.S. amateur athlete who also demonstrates premier leadership, character and sportsmanship at a reception Tuesday night at the New York Athletic Club.

She is the first volleyball player to win the award.

At the same time, the Barton men’s volleyball team was beating Mount Olive to take win the Conference Carolinas regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the league’s postseason tournament.

And the Southern Illinois Salukis are looking for a new head coach. Justin Ingram left for Illinois-Chicago (UIC), replacing Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who took the job at Penn in February.

Hey everyone! What’s happening? I’m just rooftop chillin enjoying a glass of nice wine after winning the #AAUSullivanAward. I’m so honored pic.twitter.com/oCe5LJwtdu

— Lauren Carlini (@laurencarlini) April 12, 2017

Carlini honored: Carlini, the only four-time All-American in Wisconsin volleyball history, was joined by six other finalists, all Olympic gold medalists, Kayla Harrison, judo; Laurie Hernandez, gymnastics; Ashleigh Johnson, water polo; Kyle Snyder, wrestling; Aly Raisman, gymnastics; and Ginny Thrasher, target shooting.

“I’m honored to be a part of this group,” Carlini said during her acceptance speech. “Everyone knows them as amazing athletes but they are even more amazing people.

“I’m honored to be the first volleyball player to win this award. I hope that this starts gaining popularity for the sport. Volleyball’s growing and gaining popularity so I hope this kind of keeps it going.

“I hope in three years that I get what every single one of these guys have, an Olympic gold medal.”

The Sullivan Award has been presented annually since 1930 to the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. Representatives from the AAU created the Sullivan Award with the intent to recognize contributions and achievements across the country of amateur athletes.

Carlini, from Aurora, Ill., was named the 2014 Big Ten Conference player of the year and earned four first-team all-conference awards. She was a two-time Big Ten setter of the year and was named the 2013 Big Ten freshman of the year. What’s more, Carlini was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and earned Academic All-America honors in 2016.

Lauren Carlini makes a save for Wisconsin in the 2013 NCAA Championships/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

During her four seasons, the Badgers qualified for four straight NCAA tournaments, advancing to at least the round of eight each year. Wisconsin competed in the championship match in 2013 and lost to the eventual NCAA champions three different years. UW also never finished lower than fourth in the Big Ten standings in her four years, winning the championship in 2014.

Barton No. 1 in ConfCarolinas: The Bulldogs beat Mount Olive 25-16, 25-22, 25-13 to improve to 20-5 overall, 16-2 in the CC. King is also 16-2, but Barton held the tiebreaker. The regular-season championship is the first in Barton’s six-year history of the men’s volleyball program.

King beat North Greenville in three on Tuesday to finish 27-3, 16-2.

As a result, Barton will __play host to No. 8 seed Erskine (4-20, 4-14) on Tuesday, while King will entertain North Greenville (8-18, 7-11) again.

In the other two quarterfinals, No. 5 Belmont Abbey (9-16, 8-10) goes to No. 4 Limestone (12-10, 12-6) and No. 6 Lees-McRae (10-16, 8-10) goes to No. 3 Mount Olive (16-9, 14-4).

The winner of the Conference Carolinas tournament gets one of the six NCAA tournament spots and will likely be part of the two play-in matches. The MPSF, MIVA and EIVA also get automatic bids with two others from the four conferences getting at-large bids.

Ingram moves north: Ingram was the coach at SIU for five seasons, winning 20 more matches four times. He was the 2015 coach of the year in the Missouri Valley Conference, which recently took a huge volleyball hit when Wichita State left for the American Athletic Conference.

Last season, SIU finished 21-12, 12-6 in the Missouri Valley, before losing in the first round of the MVC tournament. The UIC Flames were 16-14, 4-12 in the Horizon League.

Ingram, a 1995 graduate of Iowa State, has success as the head coach at Arkansas State and before that was an assistant at Houston and Kansas State.

No. 7 LSU, with “a pretty good resume,” primed for NCAA beach stretch run

Emmy Allen and Ashley Allmer of LSU hustle against UCLA's Nicole McNamara (right) and Megan McNamara (left) at hte East vs West Classic/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

A year ago, LSU was on the outside looking in, oh, so close to being one of the eight teams invited to the inaugural NCAA Beach Championship.

This year, the seventh-ranked Tigers’ lineup, dotted with freshmen, sophomores and experienced senior former indoor players, appear in pretty good shape to be in Gulf Shores in three weeks.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good resume,” coach Russell Brock said. “That’s the whole goal when you get to this part of the season. You know your fate is going to be in the hands of a group of people sitting around a table looking at results. With that in mind, we feel like we’ve built a solid resume. We obviously have to finish the season, but so far so good.”

LSU ends its regular season in a way that could only happen in Baton Rouge, with a gathering this weekend where the Tigers not only __play host to No. 10 Georgia State, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Louisiana-Monroe, but the fans who come Friday get an LSU beach volleyball tank top and on Saturday everyone eats free crawfish. LSU did be sure to note on its advertisements that there will be “limited quantities” of crawfish.

Then April 21-23 is the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association tournament April 21-23 in Emerson, Ga., where the field will include No. 4 Florida State, No. 12 South Carolina, No. 14 Florida Atlantic, No. 15 Florida International and that same Georgia State, likely the team that beat out LSU for the last spot in the NCAA Championship last year.

This is the fourth year of LSU beach volleyball, a program that has annually improved, both on the sand and through recruiting.

“The transition, especially for us who were at those first tryouts when we originally started, we had to learn that we went from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball, which is a completely different game,” said fourth-year senior Emma Hiller, who is from Baton Rouge. “We had to completely disconnect the two. There was no relationship between the two. Once we made that change and we got all these new girls in we really developed a culture.”

That first year, in 2014, LSU finished 6-10. The Tigers went 14-9 in 2015, with a few more important wins and closer defeats. Then last year, they were 20-9, but with so many close losses to better teams.

This season the Tigers are 18-5 and have won 16 matches in a row. In that stretch are victories over Arizona, TCU, FIU and South Carolina. On an early season trip to Manhattan Beach, the Tigers lost 3-2 to both UCLA and Long Beach State, two teams that will be in Gulf Shores as well.

“We have a better roster than we did last year and better training,” Brock said. “We’re another year in the evolution of our program.”

That’s important to note. Brock, the former USC standout who joined LSU’s program when it started and has essentially run it since, was only officially named head coach this season. For the first three years, LSU veteran indoors coach Fran Flory was listed as the beach head coach.

LSU coach Russell Brock

“We look at things a little differently than a lot of people,” Brock said. “We built our roster and our system around being successful in the college game. I think it’s a little different than the pro game or the international game. One thing you can’t fully prepare for is there are so many different surfaces and you have to be able to __play on them all.”

Brock said it’s all about “jump-ability,” that varies quite a bit where college teams play.

“We can play on the deeper sand, that’s what we’re built on and that’s what we play on here,” Brock said, pointing to the courts at Mango’s, the off-campus Baton Rouge beach facility where LSU practices and plays. “But we’ve got a roster this year where we compete when you get in those scenarios where you’ve got big athletes who play indoor ball and just get up there and bang balls into the angle and until this year we haven’t been able to handle being ‘out-athleticized,’ but we’ve added enough pieces and we’ve trained enough that we feel like we can compete in those scenarios.”

That roster includes some key freshmen, including the No. 1 pair of 5-foot-6 Kristen Nuss from New Orleans and 6-1 Claire Coppola, who came to LSU from Scottsdale, Ariz. She is 12-1 at the No. 1 and 8-2 at No. 2. As a pair, they’re only losses were to USC, Florida State and Arizona State.

“They’re young and we kind of protected them at the beginning of the year,” Brock said, noting that they played No. 2 for a bit before moving up. “Down the stretch they’ve been exclusively at the 1 and they’ve had some amazing wins.”

Claire Coppola jump floats for LSU/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Coppola said she chose LSU over Arizona and UCLA.

“To be able to play girls that are 22-, 23-years-old and we’re coming in here at 18 is really fun,” Coppola said. “They have so much more experience than us so it’s been good for our game.”

That isn’t lost on Hiller.

“We’ve all been here (her, Katie Lindelow, Cati Leak) and we put so many hours in, but we were all indoor girls,” Hiller said. “Seeing these new freshmen come in and be so impactful and they know the game already. They know the beach game. It’s been their life since they can remember and they just come out here and do business. It’s amazing to watch.”

Fifth-year transfer Emma Allen from Mill Creek. Wash., who played indoors at Gonzaga and transferred for this season of beach, has been a fixture at No. 2. She has had different partners but has been with Lilly Kessler, a sophomore from Augusta, Ga.

LSU’s Olivia Powers and Katie Lindelow celebrate at the East vs West Classic in Manhattan Beach/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Lindelow, from Mandeville, La., who was a fixture on the LSU indoors team, pairs at No. 3 with another freshman, Olivia Powers from Merrit Island, Fla. They are 15-3, 5-3 against ranked opponents.

At No. 4, Leak is with redshirt-freshman Maddie Ligon of Bedford, Texas. And at No. 5, New Orleans sophomore Megan Davenport has had different partners including of late Callen Molle, a senior from Galena, Ohio. Davenport is 20-2 this season.

“We feel like regardless of what happens down the stretch we’ve got wins against all the (CCSA) teams and we don’t have any bad losses,” Brock said. “But we know we want to finish strong. We know that people will very quickly forget about a 16-, 18-, 19-match winning streak if you have a couple of losses at the end. They’re going to try spin that as, ‘Hey, we’re playing better late.’ And we’re going to always go back to that we’ve been playing great all year.”

LSU, by the way, is in the process of converting its old on-campus tennis facility into a beach venue. The Tigers hope to play there in 2018.

Stetson wins ASUN: Stetson finished 10-0 in conference play and captured the Atlantic Sun regular-season championship with two victories Wednesday over Florida Gulf Coast.

The Hatters (17-10, 10-0) won 4-1 in the first match and 5-0 in second match and earned the No. 1 seed for next week’s ASUN Championship in DeLand.

“It is huge. It was one of big team goals for the year,” Stetson coach Kristina Hernandez said.

Stanford honors Walsh Jennings: Before the Cardinal beat Cal on Tuesday, one of the courts at Stanford was named for the four-time former indoors All-American.

Kerri Walsh Jennings, of course, is best known for being a four-time Olympic beach volleyball medalist. When she played at Stanford, the school didn’t have beach volleyball. But she was on Stanford NCAA-championship teams in 1996 and ’97.

Oregon coach Matt Ulmer busy, optimistic about new challenge

Matt Ulmer on the Oregon bench before a home match last September/Eric Evans Photography

Matt Ulmer’s been busy.

The new Oregon head volleyball coach has not only taken over that job, but is also directing the Ducks beach team.

“I wish I could clone myself right now,” he joked.

Tuesday was the first time Oregon made him available to the media since he was promoted in the wake of Jim Moore “retiring” and his assistant-coach wife, Stacy Metro, being reassigned within the university. 

Ulmer, according to a university spokesman, is not an interim head coach but “is on a one-year head coaching contract through December 2017, and at that point the (athletic) department will re-evaluate the position.” During a 13-minute news conference Tuesday on the floor of the Matthew Knight Arena where Oregon plays its matches, Ulmer was asked various questions in various ways about what happened with the last staff, his involvement and subsequent fallout, but was very guarded and careful in his answers and a few times declined to answer. 

Ulmer, 32, who spent his first two seasons at Oregon as an assistant coach before serving as associate head coach in 2016, told VBM after the news conference by phone that he’s encouraged by the response to him from not only the current Oregon team, but also recruits and the volleyball world at large.

“The belief in me with the volleyball community has been very strong. I haven’t had one negative conversation with anybody,” Ulmer said. “It’s all been very supportive. And I’m really thankful for the relationships I already have.

He said upon getting the job he told the team, “I’m here for them, I believe in them, I’m excited for their futures and if they need anything I’m here.”

Matt Ulmer

Ulmer said there’s a comfort level between him and the players.

“I’ve been here for three seasons and the whole roster has been here with me,” he said. “So I’ve been with them their whole careers. They know my voice and how I do things, so I don’t think it’s been a big transition.”

Ulmer hopes to officially announce the assistants he’s hired very soon.

“For me, it’s been a lot of work just because I’ve been wearing three different hats,” he said. “Plus beach, so it’s four different hats. It’s all good stuff, just a lot.”

Oregon plays a relatively limited beach schedule compared to some others, and is currently 1-3. The Ducks go to Sacramento State on Thursday and then are at Stanford Friday and Saturday before playing in the Pac-12 Beach Championships in Tucson April 27-28.

Metro was the beach coach and Ulmer was her assistant. It’s not like Ulmer doesn’t know his way around in the sand as the top Duck. In 2013, as the Long Beach State head coach, the 49ers won the national championship.

That was also his only time to be a head coach.

“I have a very good record as a head coach,” he cracked. “I’m hoping to go 2-for-2.”

If nothing else, Ulmer has a great head coach in the family as a sounding board. His mother, Leanne, will be starting her 17th year as the highly successful head coach at Division III Carthage in Wisconsin, where Ulmer also played men’s volleyball. After a stellar playing career, he served as his mom’s assistant from 2002-06.

“She always gives me great advice,” Ulmer said.

He said that his former boss, Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro, also has been a sounding board.

Oregon lost two key players from a team that went 21-10 overall and finished fourth in the Pac-12 at 13-7. The Ducks lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Michigan. Gone are libero Amanda Benson and middle blocker Kacey Nady.

“We lose two important pieces. Amanda was the captain on the floor for us and Kacey in the locker room was a big leader for us,” Ulmer said.

Not that the cupboard is bare.

“I think we’re pretty loaded as far as talent goes,” Ulmer said.

There was no doubt that Oregon’s last year was regarded as a potentially great young roster. That included middle Ronika Stone, who was named to the Pac-12 all-freshmen team, and sophomore outside Lindsey Vander Weide, who was named to the All-Pac-12 team, while sophomore middle Lauren Page, freshman outside Jolie Rasmussen and Stone all got honorable mention.

“Last year we had nine underclassmen and they were all contributing,” Ulmer said. “They’re one year older. There are only four underclassmen now.”

Oregon had two of the most highly regarded recruiting classes the past two years and, accordingly, only has a walk-on coming in for 2017.

Oregon spring practice starts in the beginning of May.

“All we can do is try to improve with the team every day,” Ulmer said, “and if we can get better in one skill in each practice, then as a team by definition we’re better.

“Those are my goals, trying to get the team to focus less on wins and losses and more about their individual purpose and I think that’s going to make a difference for us.”

NCAA: Higher seeds advance in MPSF, MIVA, EIVA field set, beach results

UC Irvine's Tamir Hershko battles UCLA's Christian Hessenauer and Oliver Martin/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

The top four seeds in both the MPSF and MIVA tournaments advanced to the semifinals Saturday. We’ll also look at how the EIVA tournament will shape up this coming week, plus a quick visit around the college beach scene from Saturday.

MPSF seeds hold

The top four seeds in the MPSF tournament all won on Saturday.

No. 1 seed Long Beach State was a 25-22, 24-26, 25-18, 25-23 winner against No. 8 USC at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach.

Long Beach State faces No. 4 seed UC Irvine Thursday at Walter in one MPSF semifinal.

In the win, Long Beach State had eight service aces, which tied the program single-match record during a conference tournament.

TJ DeFalco, the MPSF player of the year, had four aces, to establish a school single-match conference-tournament record.

“Aces are a bonus of serving tough,” said Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe. “I thought we served really well all night long. There was a stretch where we missed a couple back-to-back, but we also served really tough in the first two sets and only had two or three hitting errors at that point. It’s been really good four us all season.”

DeFalco had 12 kills and hit .355. Opposite Kyle Ensing had 12 kills. “I love that TJ helps us score points in every facet of the game,” said Knipe.

Lucas Yoder led USC with 23  kills. Gert Lisha had 49 assists and Matt Douglas had 12 digs.

UCI’s Michael Saeta serves. Saeta, the Anteater’s career service ace record holder, did not serve any aces, but his match-leading 21 service attempts disrupted UCLA’s offense all night/Ed Chan/VBshots.com

At UC Irvine, the No. 4 Anteaters were 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 winners against No. 5 UCLA.

Irvine heads to Long Beach State Thursday to face the regular-season conference champions.

The win was Irvine’s ninth in a row and moves it to 20-6 overall. UCLA finished the season 17-10.

Aaron Koubi led the Anteaters with 19 kills and hit .625. Tamir Hersko had 12 kills, six digs and two blocks, while Thomas Hodges had 10 kills, four digs and three total blocks. MPSF freshman of the year Scott Stadick had a match-high six total blocks and tied the program single-season record by notching his 23^rd solo block on the season. He also hit .700 with seven kills on 10 swings.

“We’re a more complete team now,” Koubi told VBM’s Ed Chan after the match. “When everyone does their job, we are tough to beat. Each night a different player takes the lead. That’s what makes us strong. If one guy isn’t at his best, at least two other guys are here to step up. We rely upon each other and I have no pressure at all to __play well because I know if I don’t, someone else will step up.

“I may have 19 kills tonight, but it’s really Tamir and Thomas that defenses are keying on. It’s really hard to game-plan for three players.”

Irvine coach David Kniffin said the team is “trying to abide by the law of the farm.”

“You plant seeds and you can’t rush them to grow,” he explained. “We felt confident with the course we set in September and we’re just trying to hold as true to that as we can. It’s nice to see things manifest the way they do because that’s not always guaranteed.”

Kniffin also pointed to the team’s balance on offense as a key to its success. “I think the biggest reason our pin hitters do what they do is they know if they don’t, they’ll let the other two down,” he said. “I genuinely believe that’s where it comes from.”

Kniffin also likes the way his team has served this season. “We have a pretty diverse serving team,” he said. “We don’t all serve the same way. We’re able to make changes as needed and that diversity makes us hard to prepare for, especially if we hit our match-ups right.”

Jake Arnitz led UCLA with 18 kills and Micah Ma’a added 31 assists, six kills, and two blocks.

Third-seeded Hawai’i was a 3-0 winner against visiting Pepperdine in Honolulu, while No. 2 BYU was a 3-0 winner against No. 7 seed Stanford.

That sets up a semifinal of Hawai’i and BYU Thursday in a 2-3 seed matchup.

In BYU’s win, the Cougars had seven aces at the service line.

“We were really aggressive from the service line tonight,” said BYU coach Shawn Olmstead. “We got them out of their system. All credit to our servers who are the start of our defense. We didn’t allow any runs over a couple points throughout the match, which was key as well.”

BYU moved to 24-3 overall, while Stanford finished 13-13. BYU out-hit Stanford .315 to .182.

BYU’s Tim Dobbert led all players with 13 kills, four blocks and two aces. Brenden Sander had three aces, seven kills and four digs. Setter Leo Durkin had five digs and 27 assists, while Erik Sikes had a team-high eight digs.

Thursday’s semifinal action at Long Beach State features Hawai’i and BYU at 5 p.m. Pacific followed by Long Beach State and UC Irvine at 7:30 p.m. Pacific. The winners meet Saturday, April 22, for the title at 7 p.m., at Long Beach State.

MIVA tournament

The top four seeds also advanced in the MIVA tournament Saturday though No. 2 seed Lewis was given a run for its money against No. 7 Lindenwood.

Lewis advanced to the semifinals after a 3-2 win against Lindenwood in Romeoville, Ill. It was the Flyers’ ninth five-set victory of the season.

Redshirt freshman outside hitter Ryan Coenen led the Flyers with a match-high 20 kills and hit .304. Setter Matt Yoshimoto had 40 assists and nine digs, while senior middle blocker Jacob Schmiegelt had eight kills and a match-high five aces to go with seven block assists.

Lewis won its sixth match in a row and moved to 23-6 overall. Lindenwood finished 5-19.

Top seed Ohio State was a 3-0 winner over Quincy in Columbus, Ohio in a match that took 62 minutes to play. The Buckeyes moved to 28-2 overall, while Quincy finished 7-22.

Nicolas Szerszen, who won his second MIVA player of the year award in a row, led the Buckeyes with 13 kills on 19 error-free attempts (.684). He was one of four Ohio State hitters to hit .667 or better. Blake Leeson hit .800 (4-for-5), while Maxime Hervoir and Driss Guessous combined for 16 more kills. Miles Johnson had three aces.

No. 4 seed Ball State was a 3-1 winner at home against No. 5 seed Loyola.

Freshmen Blake Reardon and Matt Szews each had 11 kills for the Cardinals. Ball State moved to 19-9 overall and heads to Columbus Wednesday to face No. 1 Ohio State in the MIVA semifinals.

Grand Canyon, the No. 3 seed, was a 3-1 winner against McKendree in Phoenix. Grand Canyon heads to suburban Chicago Wednesday to face Lewis in the semifinals.

“This was an exciting win for our program,” said Grand Canyon coach Matt Werle. “Each guy on the court seemed to be great at one skill and it paid off. We had a lot of long rallies and junk fall in our favor, which helped.”

Matthew Kinnebrew led Grand Canyon with 15 kills, while Cullen Mosher had 11 kills. Drake Silbernagel had eight kills and five blocks. Ashton King had eight total blocks. Sky Engleman had seven digs.

“Moving into next week, we will need to execute because Lewis is a great team,” said Werle. “It will be a hostile environment and the 15 guys traveling will really need to come together. Lewis has knocked us out year after year in the MIVA tournament and we are hoping to stop that trend. The support from GCU and the Arizona volleyball community is greatly appreciated.”

EIVA field set

The four-team field for this week’s EIVA tournament is set after regular-season __play concluded Saturday.

Top seed Penn State will host the tournament and will face No. 4 seed Princeton, while Saint Francis (No. 2 seed) plays Sacred Heart (No. 3 seed) in the other semifinal.

Both Sacred Heart and Princeton tied with 8-6 records, but Sacred Heart swept Princeton in the season series to earn the tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed.

The Sacred Heart-Saint Francis match takes place Thursday at 5 p.m., Eastern, followed by Princeton and Penn State at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday’s action saw Penn State secure sole possession of the EIVA regular-season title at 11-3 with a 3-1 win over George Mason. Saint Francis was a 3-1 winner over Charleston and finished with a 10-4 mark. Harvard was a 3-0 winner over New Jersey Institute of Technology and Sacred Heart was a 3-0 winner over Princeton.

College Beach

The LSU beach volleyball team, ranked No. 7 in the country, broke the program record for wins in a season with 22 by knocking off Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 10 Georgia State at the Battle on the Bayou at Mango’s Beach Volleyball Club off of Sherwood Forest.

LSU has won 20 matches in a row and is now 22-5. The Tigers have swept their last five tournaments and have eight shutouts in their last 12 matches, outscoring foes during that span 53-7.

Katie Lindelow and Olivia Powers went a perfect 4-for-4 during the two days, earning their 19^th win as a pair and improved their mark together at 19-3. They have won nine matches in a row and have notched points in 19 of their last 20 matches.

“When you start out the season the way we did you want to try and get into a rhythm and start to win,” said LSU coach Russell Brock. “We knew through the middle of the season and down toward the end we would have a great opportunity to get some wins. We knew we were playing well and it was just a matter of turning our play into Ws.

“To play as well as we have for that long is hard to do for anybody. I couldn’t be more proud of the group and I think it’s another testament to working hard and executing and good things will happen to you.”

LSU will now prepare for the upcoming CCSA conference championship next week in Georgia.

“We want to compete for championships and we haven’t been in a position to be able to do that until this year,” said Brock. “There are a lot of teams in our conference playing well, but our goal and our vision for our program is to win championships. We do that together as a team. We know we have to play well and we’re up to that challenge.”

At the conclusion of the matches, LSU held a ceremony to honor Emma Hiller, Cati Leake, Callan Molle and Lindelow as the four members of the senior class. Hiller, Leak and Lindelow will finish their careers as the only three players who have been with the team since its inception.

“I can’t say enough about our senior class,” said Brock. “To have our first four-year group come through and escort the program from its infancy to where we are now can’t be overstated. I know their impact on the program is immeasurable and their influence and the standards they have set will be with our team forever.”

No. 5 Hawai’i was a 4-1 winner over St. Mary’s to wrap up play in the First Foundation Easter Classic on Queen’s Beach in Honolulu. Hawai’i, the defending Big West Conference champion, moved to 23-5 overall. Hawaii has won five in a row and eight of its last nine.

Hawai’i won all its matches Saturday in straight sets. Ka’iwi Schucht and Nikki Taylor were 21-15, 21-16 winners on the second court. Taylor now has 101 wins in her career and is one away from tying the school’s all-time record of 102.

At Florida State, No. 2 Pepperdine avenged a loss a day earlier to No. 4 Florida State by recording a 4-1 win over the Seminoles at the Noles Alumni Weekend Tournament.

Florida State also defeated No. 10 Grand Canyon 3-2 and No. 14 Florida International 3-2 before losing to Pepperdine. Florida State is now 21-7 overall.

“Every weekend we have the toughest schedule,” said Florida State coach Brooke Niles. “Every weekend we play teams from the top 15. We are going to learn from this and try to get better heading into the conference tournament.”

In the FSU-Pepperdine match, Pepperdine’s Delaney Knudsen and Madalyn Roh were 21-19, 21-13 winners against Leigh Andrew and Brook Kuhlman at No. 1.

Pepperdine’s Corinne Quiggle and Brittany Howard were 17-21, 21-19, 15-12 winners against Vanessa Freire and Sierra Sanchez at No. 2.

Skylar Caputo and Heidi Dyer were 14-21, 22-20, 16-14 winners at No. 3 against Victoria Paranagua and Macy Jerger.

Florida State’s Katie Horton and Francesca Goncalves were 21-17, 21-15 winners against Deahna Kraft and Anika Wilson at No. 4 and Sarah Seiber and Nikki Lyons were 12-21, 21-18, 15-7 winners at No. 5 for Pepperdine against Hailey Luke and Eva Torruella.