Lindenwood Upsets #6 Loyola in 4; BYU Sweeps Pepperdine for MPSF Title

Lindenwood outdid No. 6 Loyola in everything but aces in a four-set home upset Thursday night, snapping a five-match losing skid in the process. Meanwhile, No. 2 BYU did its job, besting No. 7 Pepperdine for the MPSF title, while No. 3 UCLA and No. 10 Lewis also picked up key wins as the regular season winds down.

Lindenwood def. #6 Loyola Chicago 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 29-27, 25-20)

• Lindenwood moves to 9-14, 3-10 MIVA; Loyola falls to 20-6, 10-3 MIVA
• St. Charles, Missouri
• Box Score
• Loyola Recap / Lindenwood Recap

Key Stats: Lindenwood bookended the night with .400 plus hitting efforts, including a .424 to .222 lead in Set 4. The Lions outdid Loyola in hitting efficiency (.290 to .205), kills (57-51) and blocks (11-10) in the win, which snapped a five-match losing skid. The Ramblers won the battle at the service line (4-2 in aces).

Stat Leaders: Sophomore outside Nick Stevenson paced the Lions with 20 kills on a team-high .457 clip to go with seven digs. Sophomore opposite Charley Hlavin (10), senior outside Nathan Van Dellen (10) and sophomore middle Sam Schindler (9) also aided Lindenwood in the win. Schindler posted a team-best six blocks, while junior middle Connor Hipelius and Hlavin notched five stuffs apiece.

Junior outside Collin Mahan (14) and senior middle Jeff Jendryk (10) led a group of five Loyola players with six or more kills. Senior opposite Ricky Gevis (8), junior middle Paul Narup (7) and senior outside Ryan Jamison (6) followed. Jendryk hit at a team-high .333 clip and served up two aces, while Narup notched a team-high seven blocks. Gevis added four stuffs, while Jamison was one of three players with a team-best nine digs.

It Was Over When: Lindenwood led from start to finish in Set 4, leading by as many as six at 16-10 as Stevenson and Hlavin downed three kills apiece and the team put up three blocks. Loyola was back within two at 19-17 with three Mahan putaways and two Lion miscues. Two Rambler errors and kills by Stevenson and Hlaven gave Lindenwood a match-point try at 24-19. Schindler ended the night two points later.

#2 BYU def. #7 Pepperdine 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-14)

• BYU moves to 20-5, 10-1 MPSF; Pepperdine falls to 18-4, 7-4 MPSF
• Malibu, California
• Box Score
• BYU Recap / Pepperdine Recap

Key Stats: BYU made just seven hitting errors in the match, hitting at a .400 clip, and kept the Waves off balance with 11 service aces in the sweep, which clinched the Cougars the outright MPSF title. The victors led every scoring category: kills (33-31), efficiency (.400 to .214), aces (11-4) and blocks (7.5 to 3.5). The Cougars got better offensively as the night wore on, hitting better than .400 in the final two stanza, including .500 in Set 3.

Stat Leaders: Senior outside Brenden Sander paced the Cougar attack with 11 kills on a .429 effort, while freshman opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez followed with eight putaway, four blocks and three aces. Sophomore outside Cyrus Fa’alogo notched six kills, three blocks and three aces, while freshman middle Felipe de Brito Ferriera tacked on six blocks and five kills, while hitting at a.667 clip (5-1-6). Sophomore setter Wil Stanley served up a team-leading four aces.

Senior outside Colby Harriman led the way for the Waves with 12 kills, while senior outside Alex Harthaller added eight putaways, two blocks and two aces. Redshirt junior outside David Wieczorek also added two perfect serves and three kills, but hit -.133 on the night.

It Was Over When: The teams were tied after the first 12 points of Set 3, but it was nearly all Cougars after that. A 3-0 run, including a kill and an ace by Fa’alogo got things started for BYU. Up 11-9, the Cougars scored seven of the next nine to vault ahead 18-11 thanks to two kills and two aces by Garcia Fernandez. Pepperdine called timeout, but could not stop the bleeding as BYU closed out the stanza on a 7-3 run, capped by three straight aces by Stanley.

#3 UCLA def. Stanford (RV) 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-22, 25-15)

• UCLA moves to 21-6, 8-3 MPSF; Stanford falls to 6-18, 3-8 MPSF
• Los Angeles, California
• Box Score
• Stanford Recap / UCLA Recap

Key Stats: The Bruins hit .412 for the match, including an eye-popping .909 (10 kills, 0 errors, 11 swings) in Set 4, to secure the opportunity to host an MPSF quarterfinal match on April 14. UCLA also held the upper hand in kills (50-44), blocks (9-3) and aces (5-3), while keeping the Cardinal to just a .208 hitting effort. Stanford hit .409 in the opening stanza, but failed to reach .220 the rest of the way.

Stat Leaders: Sophomore middle Daenan Gyimah was tops among the Bruins with 15 kills and four blocks, while hitting at a team-high .636 clip. Senior opposite Christian Hessenauer added 14 putaways and senior outside Jake Arnitz chipped in nine to go with three stuffs. Junior outside Dylan Missry and junior setter Micah Ma’a served up two aces apiece and each tacked on seven digs in the win.

Freshman opposite Jaylen Jasper paced Stanford with 17 kills and nine digs. Junior outside Jordan Ewert (8), redshirt senior middle Kevin Rakestraw (8) and freshman middle Kyler Presho (6) followed. Rakestraw hit at a .467 clip and added three blocks and an ace. Presho also managed a perfect serve, while hitting .500 on the night.

It Was Over When: After a tie at 4-all in Set 4, UCLA began to pull away, scoring four of the next five to go up 8-5 including a block by Oliver Martin and Ma’a. It was just a two-point game at 9-7 when the Bruins really turned it on, however, with six straight points, including two kills and a block by Hessenauer and three Stanford miscues.  The Cardinal narrowed the gap to six at 18-12 with three Bruin errors, but could not break through. The Bruins closed out the match on a 7-3 run, aided by four Stanford missteps. A stuff by Arnitz and Gyimah closed out the night at 25-15.

#10 Lewis def. Quincy 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-9)

• Lewis moves to 17-10, 8-5 MIVA; Quincy falls to 12-17, 0-13 MIVA
• Quincy, Illinois
• Box Score
• Lewis Recap / Quincy Recap

Key Stats: Lewis dominated the Hawks in the match, outhitting them .527 to -.046 with help from a 7-1 lead in blocks, an 11-3 edge in aces and more than double the kills (33-16). Quincy hit in the positives only once, managing a .043 effort in Set 1. For their part, the Flyers made just four hitting errors all night, hitting .412 or better in all three stanzas, including a .636 effort in Set 2.

Stat Leaders: Redshirt junior opposite Mitch Perinar was tops among the Flyers with 10 kills on an errorless .625 hitting effort. Redshirt sophomore outside Ryan Coenen added seven kills and a team-best three blocks, while redshirt junior outside Julian Moses chipped in seven kills on a team-high .875 hitting effort to go with four aces. Junior setter Matt Yoshimoto also served up four aces.

Redshirt junior right side Brandon Davis (4), senior middle Shane McAdams (3) and junior setter Adam Rogan (3) were among the eight Hawks with at least one kill, while each serving up an ace. Davis hit at a team-high .500 clip (4-1-6), while McShane put up a solo stuff for the team’s lone block.

It Was Over When: Lewis scored the first four points in Set 3 and soon led 10-4 as Moses served up two aces and Yoshimoto and Perinar notched one each. Three Hawk miscues and an ace by Moses pushed the edge to 10 at 15-5. A 6-0 run, including three putaways and a stuff by Perinar, had the Flyers up 15 at 21-6. The teams split the next six points, leading to a Lewis match-point try at 24-9. A hitting miscues capped the night.

Queens def. Limestone 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 16-25, 29-27)

• Queens moves to 7-18; Limestone falls to 8-18
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Box Score
• Limestone Recap / Queens Recap

Key Stats: Queens evened the season series with the Saints by taking a four-set home win on Thursday with help from a 12-8 lead in blocks and a .162 to .111 edge in hitting efficiency. Limestone boasted a 49-45 lead in kills and 4-3 advantage in aces. The Saint hit at a .414 clip in their Set 3 win, the only over .238 by either team in the match.

Stat Leaders: Freshman middle Aleksandar Perisic paced the Royals with 11 kills on a team-best .450 hitting effort to go with a team-high six blocks and an ace. Freshman outside Tristan Santoyo (10), sophomore outside Gregory Esquivel (8) and Jake Dube (7) followed offensively. Freshman middle Donovan Bethel also chipped in six blocks.

Senior outside Anthony Savage (18) and freshman outside Geraldo Rivera (12) chipped in double-digit kill efforts for Limestone. Savage also added nine digs, three blocks and an ace. Freshman opposite Jarrett Malone notched 10 digs, seven kills and a team-high four blocks, while freshman middle Spencer Saint-Eloi also put up four stuffs.

It Was Over When: Limestone jumped out to a 9-3 lead in Set 4 thanks to five Queens miscues and a pair of Rivera kills. The Royals narrowed the gap to two at 11-9 with six of the next eight points, four on Saints miscues. Limestone led 21-14 late in the set after aces by Malone and Logan Riley and two putdowns each by Rivera and Savage. Queens called its final timeout at that stage and scored 10 of the next 12 out of the break to earn a match-point at 24-23. Nic Cavallaro downed four kills and Perisic added three in the rally. A kill and an ace by Savage gave Limestone a shot at 25-24. The Royals would have three more match-point chances, last at 28-27 before closing out the match on a stuff by Perisic and Marco Vecellio.