Enriques Family Faceoff Round 2 Pits Northridge vs. Concordia-Irvine

On Wednesday, VolleyMob briefly introduced you to the Enriques family and brothers Evan, Emmett, and twins Addison and Avery, all of whom play Division I men’s volleyball.

The brothers, all liberos, play for Stanford, Cal State Northridge, Concordia-Irvine and Grand Canyon respectively. Their teams will face off 10 times in 2018 with Evan and Addison playing each brother twice.

Stanford: vs. Northridge (1/17, 2/10); vs. Grand Canyon (2/17, 3/29); vs. Concordia (2/15, 3/31)

Northridge: vs. Stanford (1/17, 2/10); vs. Concordia (1/19, 2/24)

Grand Canyon: vs. Concordia (2/22, 3/23)

Emmett’s No. 8 Cal State Northridge squad swept No. 16 Stanford on Wednesday, giving him his first win over his brother Evan’s team in five tries (four with Cal Baptist).

Next up on the slate is Friday’s match in Northridge, which will see Emmett take on younger brother Addison’s Concordia-Irvine team.

While we will share more about the family in the coming weeks, here are the pertinent facts ahead of the battle between the Matadors and the Eagles.

Emmett vs. Addison Part 1 — No. 8 Cal State Northridge vs. Concordia-Irvine

• 10 p.m. ET; Northridge, California
• Live Stats / Video

Series History: CSUN leads the all-time series with Concordia-Irvine 3-0, winning in four sets in 2001 and via sweep in 2013 and 2017. This is the first meeting between Emmett Enriques and his brother Addison, a freshman on the CUI team.

Statistically Speaking: Cal State Northridge enters the match 5-0 on the season, winning each of its last four matches via sweep, including Wednesday’s road win at No. 16 Stanford.

The Matadors are hitting at a  .363 clip on the season, have already served up 41 aces and are averaging 3.03 blocks per set. Four players are averaging more than 2.00 kills per set. Senior opposite Arvis Greene leads the team with 3.90 kills per set, while hitting at a .325 clip and serving up a team-best 10 aces. Greene did not play in Wednesday’s match at Stanford. Junior outside Dimitar Kalchav (2.79), sophomore outside Ksawery Tomsia (2.69) and redshirt junior outside Lucas Timm (2.25) follow, with Kalchev and Tomsia hitting at better than a .300 clip. Kalchev also has added a team-high 11 aces.

At the net, redshirt freshman middle Gabe Vernoy (1.38), senior middle Josiah Byers (1.30), and junior middle Eric Chance (1.25) put up more than a block per set. Freshman Sean Mitchell boasts a team-leading 2.20 digs per set, followed by Emmett Enriques (1.62), but Enriquez has started the last four matches at libero.

Concordia-Irvine has played just one match in 2018, topping Springfield College in four sets last Saturday.

The Eagles hit at a .333 clip in the match and outblocked Springfield 9-5. Senior outside Jonathan Predney paced the team with 18 kills, while hitting .500 and putting up three blocks, while redshirt sophomore outside Raymond Barsemian notched 14 kills, 11 digs and two blocks. Junior middle blocker Hunter Howell added eight kills and a team-leading four blocks. Predney put down 3.25 kills per set at a .282 clip in 2017, while serving up 20 aces. Howell chipped in 1.75 kills and 1.01 blocks per set, while hitting at a .344 clip last year. As a team, the Eagles hit .257 and put up 2.60 blocks per set in 2017.

EMMETT’S TAKE

We were all supposed to be in the same conference, which would have been really cool, but it is still good that our family and friends can see us both play. We have a really big fan base, a lot of family that comes out and wants to support us and a lot of people where we are from watch online, so that is really cool. They always wear shirts for one of us and we are always convincing them of which shirt they should be wearing. It is usually the underdog.

ADDISON’S TAKE

Hopefully I get to get in. The senior libero that I am currently competing with is really good. I really want to try to watch him first and then kind of learn before I actually start off getting into it. If the case is that I get into it right away, being across the court is probably going to be just like our high school days when we were on opposite sides of the net during practice just digging at each other and trying to get the other one to do better by getting a little angrier and making it a little harder. That is what I like to do and I know Emmett likes to do it. We like to push each other’s limits. Even if I don’t get in, I will still be hollering at Emmett from the side and trying to make my team better.

I really want to watch the libero on our team play because I am kind of under him. This is my first year and I know I have room for improvement and Jake is being my mentor on the team, helping me and teaching me, giving me side notes and helping me out with techniques and stuff and that is what I really want to do to start off this first season. But if I do get in, I am going to go back to and try to recall my younger days when we were always across the net trying to get at each other.

Have you talked to your teammates about Emmett’s game at all and helped them scout him?

Not yet, but I definitely plan on it. One of the things that I like to do is watch other players and find their tendencies, especially Emmett. I have a few on Emmett that he doesn’t know and I have some for Evan too, but they are both really good. I will talk to my teammates about it before the match. I haven’t played against him competitively in a while, so he may have changed, but I think I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. We’ll see.

Are bragging rights on the line for the winner? 

(Gloating) is definitely Emmett. That is something he would do, but I don’t think he means shoving it our face, he just likes to show it off. I am definitely going to give it to Emmett (if we win), but I am not really about winning or losing.

I have been listening to them talk about games my junior and senior years of high school when they would come home from college about how rankings don’t mean anything. It is interesting because I know my team is really good and it is like the next level for me and I am excited to be in this. I would like to beat Emmett for sure, but I don’t think winning or losing are my priorities as long as I do my best and as long as my team does its best. That is all I can ask for.

I am excited because I like competition and, at this level, I have such a fun time just in practice competing with my teammates and then in the preseason games. It is competitive and especially now that I am going to have a family member on the other side, I am going to have a good time no matter what. I think it will be fun. I am excited for Friday.