NCAA: Illinois hires Tamas, Ohio State, Stanford men win

Chris Tamas, an assistant at Nebraska the past two years, is the new head coach at Illinois/Nebraska photo

Chris Tamas, an assistant at Nebraska the past two seasons, is the new Illinois women’s coach.

Illinois announced the hire on Friday morning and will introduce Tamas, a former pro player, at an afternoon news conference. He replaces Kevin Hambly, who left Illinois to take the job at Stanford.

A couple of former big-time NCAA women have taken jobs as assistant coaches.

And in NCAA men’s volleyball on Thursday, No. 8 Stanford upset No. 4 UCLA and top-ranked Ohio State won again.

But first a look at Friday’s men’s schedule.

The MPSF has three matches that could shake things up on Friday night as No. 3 BYU (9-2, 4-1) heads to USC (3-8, 2-6), No. 5 Hawai’i (10-2, 3-2) plays at upstart UC San Diego (5-5, 2-4, which is riding a five-match winning streak, and No. 2 Long Beach State (9-2, 5-1), atop the standings, goes to No. 7 UC Irvine 8-4, 5-3).

The MIVA shows No. 11 Ball State (10-2, 3-1) going to Fort Wayne (4-10, 1-2) and Grand Canyon (5-5, 3-1) at Quincy (3-6, 1-2).

There are three matches in the EIVA with all three home teams opening league play. No. 14 Penn State (6-4, 1-0 EIVA) is at NJIT (4-4, 0-0), Saint Francis (4-6, 0-1) goes to Princeton (2-5,  0-0), and Charleston (7-3, 0-1) is at Sacred Heart (7-1, 0-0).

Four Conference Carolinas matches are on the Friday schedule, including Mount Olive (5-4, 4-0) at King 7-1, 3-0) in the battle for first place. Barton (5-3, 4-1) goes to Lees-McRae (3-5, 1-2) and Pfeiffer (0-4, 0-4) is at Limestone (3-2, 3-1). Belmont Abbey (3-5) goes out of the league when it plays host to Alderson Broaddus (1-9), which beat St. Joseph’s College this past Sunday for its first victory.

Chris Tamas

Illinois tabs Tamas: Tamas’s resume includes nine years as a college assistant, including two years at Nebraska, two at Cal Poly, two at Minnesota and two at UC-Riverside.

He played at Pacific, where he was an AVCA All-American in 2003 and then spent time with the national team. His wife, Jennifer, was a four-time All-American middle at Pacific. They have two children.

Tamas is the second assistant to leave Nebraska. Earlier, Dani Busboom Kelly took the job as head coach at Louisville. She was replaced for Olympic libero and former Husker Kayla Banwarth.

All-American volunteers: Former Missouri All-American setter Molly Kreklow has gone back to her alma mater as a volunteer coach. Former Penn State All-American Deja McClendon, who is from Louisville, has joined the aforementioned Busboom Kelly’s staff as a volunteer.

Cardinal goes five to beat UCLA: UCLA lost for the third consecutive time as Stanford won a thriller on its home court 29-27, 25-27, 23-25, 29-27, 15-11.

Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Ewert had a career-high 22 kills on .439 hitting to go with two blocks and two digs as Stanford improved to 7-4, 4-2 MPSF. Mason Tufuga added 19 kills and five digs and hit .394. But he also had five of Stanford’s 25 service errors with just three aces, two by Kevin Rakestraw.

UCLA dropped to 9-4, 6-3 in the only regular-season meeting between the two teams this season. The Bruins also had three aces, two by JT Hatch, but a whopping 29 errors, meaning the teams combined for six aces and 54 errors.

Hatch led UCLA with 19 kills and hit .297. He had eight of those service errors to go with seven digs.

Dylan Missry added 13 kills and five digs, but had five serve errors. Hagen Smith had 12 kills, hit .429, and five blocks and five digs.

Buckeyes, Loyola notch wins: Ohio State improved to 12-0, 3-0 MIVA, with its 25-13, 20-25, 25-14, 25-17 over visiting No. 6 Lewis.

Miles Johnson continued to dominate as he came away with 19 kills and hit .593 and had two digs and two blocks. Nicolas Szerszen added 15 kills and hit .565. He had three aces, eight digs and two blocks. Driss Guessous had 10 kills and hit .533 and had four blocks, Their team, which won for the 35th time in a row, hit .485.

Maxime Hervoir had with seven kills, five blocks — two solo — and an ace.

Lewis (8-3, 3-2), which hit .263, got nine kills from Trevor Weiskircher and eight each from Mitch Perinar and Kyle Bugee.

Loyola won for the fourth time in a row by beating McKendree 25-23, 25-16, 25-22. The 10th-ranked Ramblers improved to 7-3, 3-0. while McKendree dropped to 5-9, 1-3.

Loyola, which goes to Ohio State on Saturday, got eight kills apiece from Ben Plaisted and Collin Mahan, who had seven digs. Plaisted had four blocks and both of his team’s aces.

Jeff Jendryk had seven kills and hit .500 and had six blocks.

Maalik Walker led the home team with 13 kills but hit .097. Nolan Reuter added 10 kills and Wyatt Patterson seven. He had both his team’s aces, but McKendree had 15 service errors.

Also in the MIVA on Thursday, Lindenwood dropped to 0-10 with a 24-26, 25-23, 25-17, 25-18 loss to visiting Missouri Baptist.

USA Volleyball announces Jamie Davis as new CEO

New USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis

USA Volleyball has gone outside the sport for its new leader.

The national governing body announced Tuesday morning that Jamie Davis, sports media, marketing and business executive, as its new CEO of USA Volleyball.

“I love a challenge and I love growing organizations,” Davis said Wednesday morning from Los Angeles. “I’m very entrepreneurial. I’ve launched television networks in my career. So I think entrepreneurially. Which means being scrappy and making do with what you have and fighting to win at all costs. Because that’s my mindset I love taking an organization that I think has massive potential and seeing how to tap that potential and really let it grow.

“And that was the most attractive thing to me.”

Davis, 50, grew up in Glencoe, Ill., near Chicago. He is a graduate of Colgate University and has an MBA from New York University. His resume includes helping launch the NFL and NHL on Fox and then spending 12 years in Asia for News Corporation where his jobs included launching new networks and running channels. He was president of News Corp China.

“I think this is going to be exciting, it’s going to be challenging and I think it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun,” Davis said.

He ran cross country and track in high school and also wrestled and admits to being a volleyball neophyte.

“When the board approached me, I was the first to say I’m not from a volleyball background,” Davis said. “They were very clear to explain to me that’s not necessarily what we’re looking for in this role. We’re looking for someone in a sports business marketing background who can take our sport to the next level.

“And that was very intriguing to me. I saw a lot of opportunities to take a different approach or come at this with a fresh set of eyes and take what’s already a very solid base and try to grow it. I’m all about trying to grow participation and membership.

Davis and his wife of 22 years, Annie, have three children, 19-year-old Amber, 18-year-old Jonathan and Andrew, who is 16.

“I am really pleased to welcome Jamie Davis to USA Volleyball. He is a tremendous asset for us moving forward and he’s going to take us into new areas of business on a global level in sports,”  USA Volleyball board of directors chair Lori Okimura said.

Davis went to L.A. Tuesday to meet with Okimura and others in USA Volleyball before heading later this week to the organization’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, where he’ll be moving from Philadelphia.

He was set to meet with USA women’s coach Karch Kiraly on Wednesday. USA men’s coach John Speraw is at a tournament at Ohio State with his UCLA team. Davis also said he plans to eventually meet with representatives of all USA Volleyball regions.

“I want to work closely with them so we understand their needs better all with the goal of growing the participation in the sport and making it the sport of choice for our youth,” Davis said. “Right now, on day two, I would tell you I’m in that research stage. My goal is to do that quite quickly.”

Okimura was excited to have Davis on board.

“We used a CEO search committee comprised of many board members and outside notables and then worked directly with an executive search firm. Jamie stood out from all the candidates primarily because of the depth of his business experience,” Okimura said.

“He’s someone who’s already been a chief executive on many levels. He’s someone who’s done business globally, primarily in key markets, Asia, Europe, the United States, all markets that the sport of volleyball is looking to be more saturated in.

“And his personality, quite frankly. High energy, very efficient thinker and he showed a lot of passion for volleyball for someone who comes from outside our small community and our world.”

According to USA Volleyball, Davis becomes the seventh CEO of USA Volleyball and the first to come from outside the existing USA Volleyball lay leadership. He replaces Doug Beal, the former great player who coached the USA men to the 1984 Olympic gold medal. Beal was the CEO last 12 years.

Davis founded his own company, Jomadrew Sports and Entertainment, LLC, after leading Fanatics, Inc., the world’s largest online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise.

He previously was the president of the TV network Versus (now the NBC Sports Network), along with several roles within News Corporation such as president of China and managing director of ESPN STAR Sports.

“He is from the professional world of sports on many levels, e-commerce, technology, primarily with broadcast media,” Okimura said. “While he is not a former volleyball player or coach, he is very familiar with the sport from the commercial side of things. So he sees us with a very different lens and sees a lot of potential in USA Volleyball in particular. He sees a lot of areas in which we can expand our reach.

“He’s very interested in working with the 40 regions to strengthen some business opportunities that we have collectively at the national level but also to to try some opportunities that might be relevant locally. He’s a big thinker.”

NCAA men: Long Beach, Hawai’i, BYU get MPSF victories

Long Beach State thumped UC Irvine and now stands alone atop the MPSF standings after a Friday night in which BYU won again and Hawai’i brought UC San Diego back to Earth.

It took five sets for two other ranked teams, Ball State and Penn State, to win on the road. All that and more but first a look at Saturday’s NCAA men’s schedule.

There are five matches in the MPSF and all involve at least one ranked team. Second-ranked Long Beach State (10-2 overall, 6-1 MPSF) goes for its fourth win in a row when it goes to UC San Diego (5-6, 2-5). No. 5 Hawai’i (11-2, 4-2) plays at Cal Baptist (3-8, 1-6), No. 4 UCLA (9-4, 6-3) tries to break its three-match skid when it goes to No. 9 Pepperdine (5-3, 3-2),  No. 13 CSUN (9-4, 2-4) plays at No. 7 UC Irvine (8-5, 5-4), and No. 12 UCSB (6-6, 3-8) goes to No. 8 Stanford (7-4, 4-2).

There’s another big one in the MIVA and a match that will put one them alone atop the standings when top-ranked Ohio State (12-0, 3-0), riding its 35-match winning streak, plays host to No. 10 Loyola (7-3, 3-0). No. 6 Lewis (8-3, 3-2) goes to McKendree (5-9, 1-3) and Grand Canyon (6-5, 4-1) tries to keep pace when it plays at Quincy (3-7, 1-3).

The EIVA’s two-ranked teams are in action. No. 14 Penn State (7-4, 2-0) goes to Princeton (3-5, 1-0), while No 15 George Mason (4-4, 1-0) goes to Harvard (2-3, 0-0), which plays its league opener. Saint Francis (4-7, 0-2) goes to NJIT (4-5, 0-1) and Charleston ((7-4, 0-2) is at Sacred Heart (8-1, 1-0).

Conference Carolinas has four matches as King (8-1, 4-0) goes to Erskine (1-8, 1-4), Limestone (3-3, 3-2) plays at Mount Olive (6-4, 5-0), North Greenville (3-8, 3-2) goes to Barton (6-3, 5-1) and Lees-McRae (3-6, 1-3) is at Emmanuel (1-8, 0-5).

MPSF: Long Beach, Hawai’i, BYU all win

Three of the top four ranked teams in the league played Friday and got victories. The Beach went to Irvine and came away with a 25-19, 25-22, 25-16 sweep behind sophomore outside TJ DeFalco, who had 16 kills, hit .560 and had eight digs. His team hit .469.

Senior middle Bryce Yould had eight kills in nine errorless swings and hit .889. He also had four blocks. Amir Lugo-Rodriguez added five blocks, adding six kills and a .667 hitting percentage and had three of his team’s four aces. Andrew Whitt had eight kills and Kyle Ensing seven.

Long Beach had 16 service errors, but UCI had zero aces and 10 errors. Thomas Hodges led the Anteaters with 10 kills and Tamir Hershko had nine.

UC San Diego was on a five-match winning streak, its best run in a long time, but Hawai’i — also having won five in a row — came to town and put an end to that 25-16, 25-15, 25-23.

Outside hitter Brett Rosenmeier had a career-high nine kills along with two service aces and three digs. Middle blocker Patrick Gasman had eight kills in 10 swings and middle Hendrik Mol had four blocks and two aces.

Hawai’i had no aces and eight errors, while UCSD not only hit .097, it had two aces and 10 errors.

Tanner Syftestad led with seven kills but hit .037.

BYU improved to 10-2, 5-1 MPSF with its 27-25, 25-17, 25-16 victory at USC (3-9, 2-7). Jake Langlois led the Cougars with 12 kills, hitting .333, and had four digs. He also had two of his team’s four aces against eight service errors. Tim Dobbert had 11 kills and hit .500.

USC got 15 kills from Lucas Yoder, who hit .294. Ryan Moss had seven kills and hit .417.

USC had one ace and seven errors, which meant for Friday night in three matches in the MPSF the six teams combined for 11 aces and 59 errors.

MIVA: Ball State, Grand Canyon both win in five

The No. 11 Cardinals had to rally for a 25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-10 victory that left Ball State 11-2, 3-1 and dropped the Mastodons to 4-11, 1-3.

Freshman Matt Szews led the Cardinals with 18 kills and a .400 attack percentage. He had his team’s only ace and four of his team’s 21 service errors. Brendan Surane and Matt Walsh had nine kills each. Surane had five service errors.

Fort Wayne got 14 kills from Colton Stone, who had one of his team’s two aces but seven of the Mastodons’ 16 errors. Nick Smalter added 14 kills and Pelegrin Vargas.

The teams combined for three aces and 37 errors.

The Fort Wayne 2007 team was recognized during the match for its induction into the Fort Wayne Hall of Fame and Raul Papaleo was honored at the break with the retirement of his No. 9 jersey.

Visiting Grand Canyon went down 2-0 and battled back at Quincy 17-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-13. GCU got 17 kills from Cullen Mosher, who hit .382, and 12 kills each from Shalev Saada and Drake Silbernagel, who hit .474. Mosher also had four of his team’s eight aces. The Lopes had 16 errors.

Quincy’s David Siebum had a big night with 20 kills as he hit .351. Jarrod Kelso had 16 kills and hit .538 to go with seven blocks, one solo. Their team hit .360, its best since last March.

The same teams __play again Saturday,

EIVA: Tough wins for Penn State, Princeton

The Nittany Lions grinded to a 19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 15-8 victory at NJIT as Lee Smith had a career-high 17 kills. He hit .324 and had seven blocks. Chris Nugent and Calvin Mende had 14 kills each. Nugent had two of his team’s seven aces and three of its 19 service errors.

NJIT, which dropped to 4-5 in its EIVA opener, got 17 kills from Jabarry Goodridge, who had three of his team’s six aces and five of its 22 errors.

Raymond Kowalski had 15 kills but six errors and Luke Allmond had 10 kills and hit .667.

Sacred Heart opened league __play with a 25-17, 25-13, 26-24 win over visiting Charleston.

Christopher DeLucie led with 16 kills and hit .414. He had six digs, one of his team’s six aces and three of its 13 errors.

Charleston hit .053.

ConfCarolinas: Barton, Mount Olive, King, Erskine win

Barton came up with a big sweep of Limestone 25-18, 25-12 25-18 as Angelos Mandilaris had 10 kills and Jonathan Novoa-Miralles nine. Mandilaris hit .421 and Novoa-Miralles .615 on a night when their team hit .517. Mandilaris had two of his team’s four aces and two of its 13 errors.

Limestone got 10 kills from Bruno Kretzschmar, who hit .074 and had three of his team’s 14 service errors. Limestone had no aces.

King won at Emmanuel 23-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19, 15-8. Jeff Sprayberry led with 18 kills, Kiel Bell had 11 and Eddie Moushikhian 10. Ackeem West led Emmanuel with 14 kills and Gilberto Cervantes had 10.

Mount Olive beat visiting North Greenville 21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-19 as Robert Poole had 20 kills, hit .424, had two aces, seven digs and three blocks, one solo. Alex Palmatier had nine kills and three others — Andrew Sydow, Bret Rutledge and Kian Hollevoet — had eight each.

NG had 13 kills from Matthew McManaway, who had three of his team’s 18 service errors against three aces. Aaron Campbell added 12 kills and Ben Hamsho had 10 kills and six errors.

And Erskine finally broke through, beating visiting Lees-McRae 25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 30-38 for its first win of the season.

Issac Lanier led with 18 kills and seven digs. Keegan Sullivan added nine kills and hit .44. He had five blocks, two solo.

Mark Shayka and John Sobel led Lees-McRae with 12 kills each. Shayka had one of his team’s two aces and four of its 20 errors. Sobel had six errors.

FIVB Fort Lauderdale: Big day for Sweat, Ross, strong play by USA men

Sara Hughes makes a diving save as partner Lauren Fendrick looks on/Stephen Burns, Pacific Northwest Volleyball phtoography

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A quirk in the schedule — and three consecutive victories — gave Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross a huge break in the Fort Lauderdale Major.

After they finished off their undefeated run early Thursday afternoon, it was suggested to Sweat that the Fort Myers, Fla., native had time to take part in one of the favorite pastimes:

Hunting for alligators.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she said with a big grin. “Plenty of time.”

But in the first event of the 2017 FIVB World Tour, Sweat and Ross have bigger game to pursue. When they resume __play in the round of 16 on Friday, they can move up a lot higher than many might have expected from the new pairing.

But to them, they’re just about right where they expected to be and they give a lot of credit to coach Ty Tramblie.

“I’m so confident in our team,” Sweat said. “We’ve had a good month of training with our coach, so we were confident. A shaky start, but I’m proud of how we’ve progressed every match and I hope we can keep it going.”

Coach Ty Tramblie has led Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross in the round of 16 at FIVB Fort Lauderdale/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Both are effusive in their praise for the 36-year-old Tramblie, still an active player on the AVP Tour in the United States. The 6-foot Tramblie is one of the high-jumping players after whom Sweat, one of the top defenders in the world, has patterned her game.

“Ty is the glue to this team,” Sweat said. “When we were talking about coaches, he was the only one that came to Summer’s mind. Ty is so talented. When I started playing, he was the person I watched on the guys’ side. On defense, he’s one of the best and not only that, he was an awesome blocker indoors.

“He’s helping Summer so much with that and he can still give me feedback on defense. Some coaches shy away from that because they think I can just be me. He brings this energy to the team that’s so positive. We have the best time together. I didn’t know this was possible.”

Ross, of course, has been one of the American talents fans have been waiting for to emerge. She was the first female player to win FIVB World Age Group championships in the under-19 and under-21 divisions in the same year (2010).

“Summer is probably one of the most talented players out here,” Sweat said. “Working with Ty, he’s opened up this whole new level to our game. We’ve got to bring it from the practice court to the competition court now, but people are going to be absolutely blown away when they see everything she can do.”

Olympic gold-medalist Kira Walkenhorst of Germany, playing in this event with Julia Grossner as Laura Ludwig’s surgically repaired shoulder heals, discovered that.

Sweat and Ross scored a 21-14, 21-13 win over the Germans, with Ross taking charge at the net with three blocks and forcing a lot of changed shots that defensive specialist Sweat turned into transition points.

“Brooke and my coach fired me up and they were on me yesterday,” Ross said. “I was really frustrated but today was better. They were telling me to line up on your hitter and get in her face.

“I love playing with Brooke. So much experience, she gives me a lot of tidbits, helping me along. Everything is good stuff and I’ve got to do what she says.”

Kerri Walsh and partner April Ross are 3-0 in pool __play and earned a bye into the round of 16 single elimination playoff/FIVB photo

Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross captured pool A with a late-night win over Brazilian silver medalist Barbara Seixas and her new partner, Fernanda Alves. With the schedule being pushed back by an afternoon storm, Walsh Jennings and Ross rallied for a 17-21, 21-18, 15-8 victory.

Emily Day and partner Brittany Hochevar came out of qualifying to finish 2-1 in pool and advance to the knockout round/Stephen Burns, Pacific Northwest Volleyball Photography

After Wednesday’s trouncing at the hands of Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa, Brittany Hochevar and Emily cracked through with two wins to advance to Friday’s elimination rounds.

Day’s back-to-back stuff blocks late in the third set helped seal a 21-19, 15-21, 15-11 win over Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel of the Netherlands, then Day rolled to a 21-19, 21-14 victory over Germans Isabel Schneider and Victoria Bieneck.

Brittany Hochevar (passing) and Emily Day will play the Netherlands’ Joy Stubbe and Jolien Sinnema in the first round of elimination playoffs/Stephen Burns, Pacific Northwest Volleyball Photography

“We knew we had to get the job done today,” Hochevar said. “It’s a long tournament, and in pool play you just have to stay in the fight. We took the focus back on our side of the net and when we execute our stuff and do what we’ve been talking about since January, then we can tangle with anybody out here.

“We stayed in the game plan and little by little, those inches added up and so in the third set we had it and Emily went big time. Massive.”

Jake Gibb (right) and new partner Taylor Crabb finished 3-0 in pool/FIVB photo

Three American men’s teams also went undefeated in pool play to reach the round of 16. Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena will face German Olympians Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen, No. 11 Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb take on Canadians Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter, and No. 14 Theo Brunner and Casey Patterson meet Brazilians Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola.

John Hyden and Ryan Doherty, a team thrown together at the last minute when Hyden’s partner, Tri Bourne, had to pull out with an injury, reached the round of 16 with a 19-21, 21-12, 15-12 win over Italians Alex Ranghieri and Marco Caminati. They’ll face No. 15 Russians Nikita Liamin and Viacheslav Krasilnikov Friday.

Trevor Crabb (hitting) and Sean Rosenthal came out of the qualifier and advanced from pool with a 2-1 record to finish 17th/Stephen Burns, Pacific Northwest Volleyball Photography

The new pairing of Sean Rosenthal and Trevor Crabb, who had to win twice in qualifying to reach the main draw, got to the first knockout round before bowing out to Spanish Olympians Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera in an epic 21-18, 19-21, 25-23 decision that was interrupted for 40 minutes by a passing thunderstorm.

“We played a good first set, the second set the same, then we had that long break so it felt like we played 4 1 /2 sets right there,” Rosenthal said. “At least the weather cooled down a bit so that kind of helped but it was a battle. Those guys are one of the best teams, they have been for years. It’s something for Trevor and I to look at the positive. We needed more than a 17th (place) points-wise but we’ll take it, build on it and get better.”

Men’s Winners Bracket

Round 1
Match 49: Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen Germany (19) def. Janis Smedins/Aleksandrs Samoilovs Latvia (2) 21-19, 21-19 (1:19)
Match 50: Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt Brazil (3) def. Esteban Grimalt/Marco Grimalt Chile (23) 19-21, 21-15, 18-16 (1:35)
Match 51: Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter Canada (12) def. Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin Russia (16) 21-17, 22-20 (0:37)
Match 52: Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola Brazil (8) def. Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst Austria (17) 18-21, 21-19, 18-16 (1:01)
Match 53: Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira Spain (6) def. Sean Rosenthal/Trevor Crabb United States (31, Q12) 21-18, 19-21, 25-23 (1:42)
Match 54: Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger Switzerland (29, Q10) def. Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk Canada (7) 22-20, 21-18 (0:35)
Match 55: Michael Plantinga/Grant O’Gorman Canada (21) def. Pedro Solberg/Gustavo Carvalhaes Brazil (4) 21-14, 21-19 (0:35)
Match 56: John Hyden/Ryan Doherty United States (24) def. Alex Ranghieri/Marco Caminati Italy (22) 19-21, 21-12, 15-12 (0:44)

Round 2
Match 57: Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena United States (1) vs. Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen Germany (19)
Match 58: Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak Poland (5) vs. Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt Brazil (3)
Match 59: Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb United States (11) vs. Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter Canada (12)
Match 60: Theo Brunner/Casey Patterson United States (14) vs. Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola Brazil (8)
Match 61: Grzegorz Fijalek/Michal Bryl Poland (13) vs. Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira Spain (6)
Match 62: Alvaro Filho/Saymon Barbosa Brazil (9, Q1) vs. Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger Switzerland (29, Q10)
Match 63: Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo Italy (10) vs. Michael Plantinga/Grant O’Gorman Canada (21)
Match 64: Nikita Liamin/Viacheslav Krasilnikov Russia (15) vs. John Hyden/Ryan Doherty United States (24)     

Women’s Match Play

Pool A — Round 1
Match 1: April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings United States (1) def. Manon Nummerdor-Flier/Marleen Van Iersel Netherlands (32, Q7) 21-18, 21-17 (0:32)
Match 2: Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas Brazil (16, Q2) def. Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen Finland (17) 21-11, 21-15 (0:35)
Round 2
Match 17: April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings United States (1) def. Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen Finland (17) 21-19, 21-17 (0:38)
Match 18: Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas Brazil (16, Q2) def. Manon Nummerdor-Flier/Marleen Van Iersel Netherlands (32, Q7) 21-18, 21-14 (0:30)
Round 3
Match 33: April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings United States (1) def. Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas Brazil (16, Q2) 17-21, 21-18, 15-8 (0:48)
Match 34: Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen Finland (17) def. Manon Nummerdor-Flier/Marleen Van Iersel Netherlands (32, Q7) 19-21, 21-16, 15-9 (0:48)
Pool B —  Round 1
Match 3: Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe Netherlands (31, Q6) def. Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca Brazil (2) 21-18, 18-21, 15-12 (0:42)
Match 4: Lauren Fendrick/Sara Hughes United States (18) def. Louise Bawden/Nicole Laird Australia (15) 21-15, 21-14 (0:31)
Round 2
Match 19: Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca Brazil (2) def. Lauren Fendrick/Sara Hughes United States (18) 21-17, 21-17 (0:32)
Match 20: Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe Netherlands (31, Q6) def. Louise Bawden/Nicole Laird Australia (15) 19-21, 21-10, 15-9 (0:40)
Round 3
Match 35: Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca Brazil (2) def. Louise Bawden/Nicole Laird Australia (15) 21-16, 21-17 (0:31)
Match 36: Lauren Fendrick/Sara Hughes United States (18) def. Jolien Sinnema/Joy Stubbe Netherlands (31, Q6) 21-15, 21-17 (0:31)
Pool C — Round 1
Match 5: Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude Germany (3) def. Kelly Claes/Kelly Reeves United States (30, Q9) 21-12, 21-17 (0:30)
Match 6: Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini Brazil (14, Q1) def. Marta Menegatti/Rebecca Perry Italy (19) 21-14, 21-11 (0:30)
Round 2
Match 21: Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude Germany (3) def. Marta Menegatti/Rebecca Perry Italy (19) 21-13, 21-13 (0:28)
Match 22: Kelly Claes/Kelly Reeves United States (30, Q9) def. Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini Brazil (14, Q1) 20-22, 21-15, 15-11 (0:59)
Round 3
Match 37: Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini Brazil (14, Q1) def. Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude Germany (3) 21-19, 21-16 (0:36)
Match 38: Kelly Claes/Kelly Reeves United States (30, Q9) def. Marta Menegatti/Rebecca Perry Italy (19) 21-12, 16-21, 15-6 (0:45)
Pool D — Round 1
Match 7: Julia Grossner/Kira Walkenhorst Germany (4) def. Sandra Ittlinger/Teresa Mersmann Germany (29, Q5) 21-13, 21-12 (0:29)
Match 8: Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat United States (13) def. Kristina May/Taylor Pischke Canada (20) 21-16, 15-21, 15-12 (0:30)
Round 2
Match 23: Julia Grossner/Kira Walkenhorst Germany (4) def. Kristina May/Taylor Pischke Canada (20) 21-14, 15-21, 15-4 (0:40)
Match 24: Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat United States (13) def. Sandra Ittlinger/Teresa Mersmann Germany (29, Q5) 21-13, 21-12 (0:28)
Round 3
Match 39: Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat United States (13) def. Julia Grossner/Kira Walkenhorst Germany (4) 21-14, 21-13 (0:31)
Match 40: Sandra Ittlinger/Teresa Mersmann Germany (29, Q5) def. Kristina May/Taylor Pischke Canada (20) 21-18, 21-17 (0:35)
Pool E — Round 1
Match 9: Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Lisboa Brazil (5) def. Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar United States (28, Q4) 21-16, 21-10 (0:29)
Match 10: Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider Germany (21) def. Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel Netherlands (12) 19-21, 21-19, 15-13 (0:44)
Round 2
Match 25: Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Lisboa Brazil (5) def. Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider Germany (21) 21-11, 21-15 (0:28)
Match 26: Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar United States (28, Q4) def. Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel Netherlands (12) 21-19, 15-21, 15-11 (0:48)
Round 3
Match 41: Madelein Meppelink/Sophie van Gestel Netherlands (12) def. Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Lisboa Brazil (5) 30-28, 21-17 (1:22)
Match 42: Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar United States (28, Q4) def. Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider Germany (21) 21-19, 21-14 (0:35)
Pool F — Round 1
Match 11: Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre Switzerland (6) def. Lane Carico/Irene Hester Pollock United States (27) 26-24, 21-9 (0:52)
Match 12: Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson Canada (11) def. Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova Czech Republic (22) 20-22, 21-15, 15-12 (0:48)
Round 2
Match 27: Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova Czech Republic (22) def. Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre Switzerland (6) 22-20, 21-14 (0:37)
Match 28: Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson Canada (11) def. Lane Carico/Irene Hester Pollock United States (27) 21-13, 21-12 (0:
Round 3
Match 43: Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre Switzerland (6) def. Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson Canada (11) 13-21, 21-12, 17-15 (0:47)
Match 44: Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova Czech Republic (22) def. Lane Carico/Irene Hester Pollock United States (27) 21-15, 21-19 (0:32)
Pool G — Round 1
Match 13: Ekaterina Birlova/Nadezda Makroguzova Russia (26, Q3) def. Taiana Lima/Elize Maia Brazil (7) 17-21, 21-17, 20-18 (0:54)
Match 14: Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch Germany (23) def. Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug Argentina (10) 21-13, 22-20 (0:37)
Round 2
Match 29: Taiana Lima/Elize Maia Brazil (7) def. Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch Germany (23) 26-24, 21-19 (0:45)
Match 30: Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug Argentina (10) def. Ekaterina Birlova/Nadezda Makroguzova Russia (26, Q3) 17-21, 24-22, 15-7 (0:52)
Round 3
Match 45: Taiana Lima/Elize Maia Brazil (7) def. Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug Argentina (10) 21-14, 21-18 (0:38)
Match 46: Ekaterina Birlova/Nadezda Makroguzova Russia (26, Q3) def. Karla Borger/Margareta Kozuch Germany (23) 12-21, 21-18, 15-8 (0:43)
Pool H — Round 1Match 15: Katharina Schutzenhofer/Stefanie Schwaiger Austria (25) def. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli Switzerland (8) 22-20, 28-26 (0:45)
Match 16: Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova Czech Republic (9) def. Anastasia Barsuk/Evgeniya Ukolova Russia (24) 21-16, 21-12 (0:32)
Round 2
Match 31: Anastasia Barsuk/Evgeniya Ukolova Russia (24) def. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli Switzerland (8) 21-15, 17-21, 15-11 (0:43)
Match 32: Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova Czech Republic (9) def. Katharina Schutzenhofer/Stefanie Schwaiger Austria (25) 23-21, 21-17 (0:36)
Round 3
Match 47: Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova Czech Republic (9) def. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli Switzerland (8) 21-19, 24-22 (0:52)
Match 48: Anastasia Barsuk/Evgeniya Ukolova Russia (24) def. Katharina Schutzenhofer/Stefanie Schwaiger Austria (25) 20-22, 21-17, 15-10 (0:43)

NCAA: UVa, Manhattan hire coaches, Pepperdine, UCSD get wins

Tanner Syftestad of UCSD hit .571 against Northridge/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Virginia and Manhattan have new women’s head coaches.

No. 9 Pepperdine beat No. 12 UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego not only upset No. 14 CSUN, the Tritons won back-to-back MPSF games for the first time in almost five years and beat a ranked team for the first time in nearly four years.

All that and more, but first a look at Thursday’s NCAA men’s schedule.

In the MPSF, No. 4 UCLA (9-3, 6-2 MPSF) goes to No. 8 Stanford (6-4, 3-2).

The MIVA slate starts with a big one when No. 6 Lewis (8-2, 3-1) goes to top-ranked Ohio State (11-0, 2-0), on a two-year, 34-match winning streak. Ohio State has won 31 of 51 previous meetings with Lewis, including four of the last five and 19 of 29 all-time inside St. John Arena.

No. 10 Loyola (6-3, 2-0) goes to McKendree (5-8, 1-2) and Grand Canyon (5-5, 3-1) plays at Quincy (3-6, 1-2).

The EIVA and Conference Carolinas have the night off.

UVa stays within, tabs Smith: When Dennis Hohenshelt resigned after five seasons, the UVa news release said, “A national search for the next head coach will begin immediately.”

Perhaps, but Aaron Smith, who spent those last five seasons as an assistant and associate head coach got the job on Wednesday.

Smith, who is from Virginia and played at Penn State, is also a former assistant at Wake Forest and Northwestern. Last season Virginia finished 7-25, 4-16 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Manhattan hires Sarich: The Jaspers, 12-20 last year, 8-10 in the Metro Atlantic, hired Northwestern Ohio coach Lora Sarich. Sarich was the winningest coach in that school’s history, winning 111 matches in four years. She was a standout libero at Toledo and has had coaching stops at Ole Miss, Austin Peay, Georgia and West Georgia. In her last job before going to Northwestern Ohio, she was head coach at Point University in Georgia for its inaugural season.

Division I head-coaching jobs remain at Rhode Island, Penn and Coppin State.

Among the movement of assistant coaches, Cal State Los Angeles head coach Randy Smart joined the staff at Wake Forest. She was replaced at the Division II school by assistant Juan Figueroa, who will serve as interim head coach.

Pepperdine, UC San Diego win: The Waves got their money’s worth in the last two sets as they beat visiting UCSB 23-25, 25-12, 34-32, 31-29.

Pepperdine, which improved to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the MPSF, got 20 kills from David Wieczorek, who had no errors in 41 swings and hit .488. He also had seven digs, an ace and a block, although he had five of his team’s 12 service errors.

“We showed a lot of grit,” Wieczorek said.

Mitchell Penning added 14 kills with no errors in 23 swings and hit .609. He had seven blocks and four of those service errors. Michael Wexter added nine kills and nine digs.

As a team the Waves hit .386 with 58 kills on 127 attacks with just nine errors.

UCSB, which dropped to 6-6, 3-6, got 22 kills from Jacob Delson, who led a balanced Gauchos attack. Delson hit .400 and had five digs. Hayden Boehle had 17 kills and 10 digs, Corey Chavers added 14 kills and 12 digs, and Keenan Sanders had 11 kills and four blocks, one solo.

The headline on the UCSD website modestly reads, “Break Up the Tritons!”

That’s a bit much, but the 27-25, 25-13, 25-14 victory marked the team’s fifth victory in a row and comes on the heels of the Tritons’ first MPSF victory in nearly three years when they knocked off USC on Saturday to break a 49-match league losing streak.

UCSD, a surprising 5-5 overall, 2-4 MPSF, has won five in a row for the first time since March 2012. This was also its first win over a ranked opponent since March 2013.

Junior opposite Tanner Syftestad led his team with 14 kills. He had 20-plus kills in each of his previous five matches.

Syftestad hit a season-high .571 and added a season-high four aces, as well as three digs and three total blocks.

Junior setter Milosh Stojic finished with 31 assists as his team hit a season-best .516 (39-7-62) hitting percentage. Stojcic also had three kills on three attempts and six digs and a block assist.

UCSD outside Ian Colbert had eight kills against Northridge/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

Senior outside hitter Ian Colbert had eight kills and five digs.

“We’re passing pretty well, Milosh is doing a tremendous job running the offense, and we’ve had Tanner put up some big, big numbers for us,” Ring said. “And now we’re starting to get some production from some other guys.”

CSUN, which had won three in a row, dropped to 9-4, 2-4. Dimitar Kalchev and Arvis Greene led with 10 kills each. Kalchev had four of the team’s nine service errors and CSUN did not have an ace. The Matadors, who had beaten UCSD eight times in a row, had not lost at UCSD since at least 1989 according to the home team.

Brazilian men take gold, silver in Florida, USA men bronze

The Fort Lauderdale gold medal was taken by Brazil's Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa, silver went to Brazil's Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola, and bronze to USA's Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena/Red Bull

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – It was another compelling quarterfinal match under the lights at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, with the perfect foils in place.

The United States vs. Brazil in the Fort Lauderdale Major with a trip to the final four on the line. The Americans sent their No. 1 team into battle against a Brazilian Olympic silver medalist and an 18-year-old prodigy who plays beyond her years.

One team controlled one set, the opponent socked away the other set. A tense, thrilling tiebreaker brought eight match points, and it ended on a block.

Kerri Walsh and April Ross lost a taut quarterfnal third set 20-18/Red Bull

This time, it was Brazil emerging victorious, with Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa advancing to the semifinals with a 16-21, 21-15, 20-18 victory over Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross in an atmosphere crowd that reminded some of the participants of a gold-medal match.

It was in stark contrast to the one American women’s team that did reach the semifinals – newly formed Brooke Sweat and Summer Ross, who rolled to their fifth consecutive win in the tournament with what looked to be an easy 21-13, 21-14 victory over Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova of the Czech Republic.

Earlier in the day, American men’s teams Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena and John Hyden/Ryan Doherty lost their semifinals to Brazilian teams before meeting for the bronze medal, which Dalhausser/Lucena captured with a 14-21, 21-13, 15-10 victory.

But the match of the tournament was highlighted by Walsh Jennings/Ross erasing a 14-11 deficit in the third set, fending off two more match points after holding three of their own, before Agatha blocked Ross to end it after 52 excruciating minutes.

“I thought for sure we were going to get it,” Ross said. “We did everything the best we could. Our defense is a little bit shaky at this point of the season and I felt that way every other match, but we kind of got away with it. We needed to make a dig there at the end and we didn’t.

“It was amazing. It felt like a final.”

The last time Agatha stepped onto the court against Walsh Jennings/Ross was in the Rio 2016 Olympics, when she teamed with Barbara Seixas to stop the Americans in the semifinals. She admitted to flashbacks.

“Yes of course because the last time I played against them was in the semifinal in the Olympic Games and it was a very hard game, so when we entered into the court, I remember this,” Agatha said. “I thought I needed to be strong because of my partner, because the other side is a big team.”

Not so much on the other side of the net.

“No,” Walsh Jennings said. “I think about winning the entire time. I love playing her, I really do. She’s very good, she’s very smart, they’re both very well trained. They’re a really good team.”

So are Ross and Sweat, who dropped the second set they played in the tournament but none others and have allowed more than 14 points only once since. It took them only 27 minutes to cruise past the Czechs.

“We’re just playing really well right now and having fun and not thinking about it,” said Sweat, a 2016 Olympian. “We know what we have to do and we’re going out there and doing it.”

“We’re meshing so well,” Ross said. “We both know how to __play volleyball, we’re bringing it together and doing our thing and we’re coming along. I can’t wait to get better. No, I’m not surprised because I’ve been ogling over Brooke my whole life but I never thought I could actually __play with her. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life.

“I’ve never had this much fun. This is the most fun I’ve ever had and I’m always having fun.”

Their reward is a morning semifinal against Brazilian legends Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes. The winner will face either Agatha/Duda or Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude of Germany for the gold medal in the first event on the FIVB World Tour.

Brazilian youngsters Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa defeated compatriots Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola, 21-15, 21-17 for the men’s gold. Both teams are in their first season together.

Alvaro/Saymon had defeated Dalhausser Lucena, 21-16, 21-19, in the semifinals and Evandro/Andre topped Hyden/Doherty, 21-16, 21-9, when Doherty was sapped by the searing heat on center court.

“Obviously we’re disappointed (with the bronze) but it could have been a lot worse,” Lucena said. “We only had about 3 1 /2 weeks of practice. We kind of relied on our experience and I’ll take a third any day on 3 1 /2 weeks practice.”

Doherty was a last-minute replacement for Hyden’s partner, Tri Bourne, who is recovering from a shoulder injury.

“It’s a great opportunity to play with Hyden, if nothing else than to hear how he thinks about the game,” said Doherty, who will go back to regular partner John Mayer. “He’s such a smart player. Usually I’m on the other side and he’s chewing me to pieces.”

NCAA: Indiana State tabs Allman, Ball State sweeps Mastodons

Lots of Indiana news.

Lindsay Allman, the former Southern Miss, Bradley, and Wake Forest assistant, has been named head coach at Indiana State.

There was one NCAA men’s match involving teams from the four Division I-II conferences on Tuesday and there have been a flurry of Division I women’s assistants moving around, but first a look at Wednesday’s men’s schedule.

There are two MPSF matches, when No.12 UC Santa Barbara (6-5 overall, 3-5 MPSF) goes to No. 9 Pepperdine (4-3, 2-2) and No. 13 CSUN (9-3, 2-3) plays at UC San Diego (4-5, 1-4).

The MIVA, EIVA and Conference Carolinas are off.

Ball State sweeps Fort Wayne: In a battle of Indiana MIVA teams, No. 11 Ball State rolled over the Mastodons 25-14, 25-20, 25-21.

Ball State, 10-2 overall, 2-1 MIVA, got 16 kills from freshman Matt Szews, who hit .444 and had three blocks and an ace. Junior Mitch Weiler had eight kills and two blocks, senior Brendan Surane had seven kills and junior Matt Walsh had six kills, four blocks and an ace.

“We feel very fortunate and lucky to have a player like Matt Szews on our team because we can feed the ball to him and he wants the ball,” Cardinals coach Joel Walton said. “I’m glad (setter) Connor (Gross) saw that Szews was ready to go and gave him a lot of opportunities tonight.”

Fort Wayne, which dropped to 4-10, 1-1, got 10 kills from Austin Neace, seven from Pelegrin Vargas and six from Richie Diedrich, who also had two blocks.

The same teams __play Friday at Fort Wayne.

Allman to the Sycamores: She takes over a team that went 10-20 overall in 2016, 4-14 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The opening was created when Traci Dahl-Skinner was let go in December after nine years at the Terre Haute school.

Allman graduated from Maine and has a master’s degree from Southern Miss.

“Indiana State is getting a good one in Lindsay Allman,” Wake Forest coach Bill Ferguson said. “In a short time at Wake Forest she had an extremely positive impact on the program and was a tremendous asset to our coaching staff. Lindsay is sharp, professional, motivated and passionate in her methods for coaching and competing at a high level. Her previous knowledge and experience in the Missouri Valley Conference will serve the student-athletes and the program well. The future is bright for Indiana State.”

This is Allman’s first head-coaching job. Her father, John, played football at Indiana State and played with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Jobs open: Among the Division I schools still without a women’s head coach are Virginia of the ACC, Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10, Manhattan of the Metro Atlantic, Penn of the Ivy League and Coppin State of the MEAC.

And, of course, Hawai’i announced this week it will begin a search for Dave Shoji’s replacement in anticipation of him stepping down.

Assistants on the move: Among them, Michigan State head coach Cathy George added Jesse Ortiz, who had been at Miami, Ohio, to her staff. He replaces JT Wenger, who left to become head coach at Texas-Arlington … New Virginia Tech coach Jill Wilson hired former UCLA player Thomas Amberg, who had been a volunteer at LSU, and John Wasielewski, who was an assistant at Duke the past 18 years …

Alabama’s Ed Allen hired Tristan Johnson, a Bama graduate who had been at Arkansas State … Missouri coach Wayne Kreklow lost assistant Deng Yang, who became head coach at Stetson, so he has hired former USA national-team member and Pepperdine two-time AVCA All-American Joshua Taylor … TCU director of volleyball Jill Kramer promoted volunteer assistant Trent Kersten and elevated Brian Write to associate head coach.