Princeton outlasted No. 18 McKendree in five sets on the road, but the remainder of the evening’s victors claimed home court advantage. No. 5 Loyola, No. 9 Lewis, Sacred Heart and Belmont Abbey posted home wins on Thursday.
No. 5 Loyola Chicago def. No. 12 Ball State 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 29-27)
- Loyola moves to 18-4, 8-1 MIVA; Ball State falls to 13-10, 6-3 MIVA
- Chicago, Illinois
- Box Score
- Loyola Recap / Ball State Recap
Key Stats: Loyola won its third straight match, outhitting Ball State .326 to .138 with help from 7.5 blocks Thursday night. The Cardinals boasted a 38-36 edge in kills, but made 15 more errors (26-11), while trailing 7-3 in aces and 7.5 to 2 in blocks.
Stat Leaders: Senior opposite Ricky Gevis (10), junior outside Collin Mahan (9) and senior outside Ryan Jamison (8) led the Rambler attack. Gevis hit at a team-high .556 clip and added two blocks and an ace, while Jamison chipped in two blocks and an ace. Senior middle Jeff Jendryk put up a team-high five stuffs and logged five kills and an ace. Freshman setter Garrett Zolg and junior middle Paul Narup served up two aces apiece.
Sophomore outside Matt Szews put down a match-high 12 kills, but it was not enough for the Cardinals. Sophomore outside Blake Reardon and senior middle Matt Walsh followed with seven apiece. Walsh hit at a team-high .417 clip, while Szews accounted for two of the team’s four aces. Four players turned in a block assist for BSU.
It Was Over When: Ball State rallied from down five at 13-8 to grab a two-point lead of its own at 17-15 with a 9-2 run with help from four Rambler miscues. Four different Cardinals notched kills in the stretch. Loyola countered with a 4-0 run, including back-to-back BSU errors and an ace by Jendryk. The teams were tied at 20, 21 and 22 before a pair of Szews putdowns gave Ball State a set-point try at 24-22. A Jamison kill, a hitting error and a solo stuff by Jendryk put Loyola back on top at 25-24. Facing a second match-point attempt at 26-25, Walsh and Szews came through to give Ball State another go at 27-26. Loyola closed out the night with a 3-0 run as two hitting errors set up a final Gevis kill at 29-27.
No. 9 Lewis def. No. 14 Fort Wayne 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18)
- Lewis moves to 15-8, 6-3 MIVA; Fort Wayne falls to 15-8, 3-6 MIVA
- Romeoville, Illinois
- Box Score
- Lewis Recap / Fort Wayne Recap
Key Stats: Lewis outdid Fort Wayne 39-28 in kills and outhit the Mastodons .219 to .115 in the sweep. The Flyers also boasted a 5-4 edge in aces. Both team put up 10 blocks. Lewis book-ended the match with a .243 hitting effort and .250 clip.
Stat Leaders: Redshirt sophomore outside Ryan Coenen paced the Flyers with 15 kills and an ace. Four other players turned in five or more kills: sophomore outside Kyle Bugee (8), redshirt freshman middle Tyler Mitchem (6), redshirt junior opposite Mitch Perinar (5) and redshirt freshman middle TJ Murray (5). Mitchem (6-1-10) and Murray (5-0-10) notched .500 hitting efforts to lead the team. Murray also put up a team-best five blocks, while Perinar led the back court defense with 12 digs. Junior setter Matt Yoshimoto served up four of the team’s five aces.
Sophomore outside Pelegrin Vargas led a balanced Mastodon offense with eight kills and two aces, but just .069 for the match. redshirt junior outside Colton Stone (7), sophomore middle Richie Diedrich (6) and redshirt junior outside Tony Price (5) followed. Diedrich hit at a team-best .308 clip and added three blocks, while Stone added two aces. Junior setter Michael Keegan posted a 24-assist, 13-dig double-double while also putting up four blocks. Freshman middle Tomas Gago registered a team-high six stuffs.
It Was Over When: After a tie at 8 in Set 3, Lewis pulled away with a 6-1 run, including two kills and a block by Murray and a Coenen ace. Trailing 14-9, Fort Wayne narrowed the gap to two at 16-14 and again at 18-16, thanks in part to five Flyer errors. It was nearly all Lewis from there as the Flyers wrapped up the match on a 7-2 run. Bugee and Coenen turned in two kills apiece to set up match point at 24-17. The teams traded service errors to end the night.
Princeton def. #18 McKendree 3-2 (27-25, 25-14, 19-25, 22-25, 15-11)
- Princeton moves to 8-11; McKendree falls to 9-11
- Lebanon, Illinois
- Box Score
- Princeton Recap / McKendree Recap
Key Stats: In the first of two matches at McKendree this week, Princeton held on for a five-set win on Thursday, extending its current win streak to seven matches, following five EIVA wins with a pair of non-conference affairs. The Tigers won the first two sets and rebounded to take Set 5. Princeton outhit the Bearcats .342 to .307 and boasted leads in aces (7-4) and blocks (11-7.5) in the win. McKendree downed four more kills (70-66).
Stat Leaders: Sophomore outside Parker Dixon (22), sophomore middle George Huhmann (19) and sophomore outside Greg Luck (17) accounted for all but eight of Princeton’s 66 kills. Dixon was on fire, hitting at a .500 clip (22-42-40) and rounding out a double-double with 16 digs. Huhmann turned in a match-high five blocks alongside senior outside Mike Fuerst. Senior middle Junior Oboh added six kills and served up five of the team’s six aces.
Senior outside Jared Wilcox notched a match-high 23 kills and added 12 digs and two aces, while hitting at a team-best .463 clip (23-4-41) to pace McKendree. Senior outside Nolan Rueter (20), freshman outside Patrick Ross (12) and redshirt senior middle Brendan Schmidt (9) followed. Four Bearcat players managed three blocks: Schmidt, Rueter, redshirt freshman middle Wyatt Dimke and senior setter Pasquale Fiduccia. Fiduccia also registered a double-double with 58 assists and 10 digs.
It Was Over When: After letting McKendree back in the match with wins in Set 3 and 4, Princeton raced out to a 6-3 advantage in Set 5 with two Huhmann kills and two Bearcat miscues. Kills by Wilcox and Ross had McKendree within one at 6-5, but the Tigers scored six of the next nine to surge ahead 12-8. Two Luck putaways and an ace by Oboh highlighted the rally. Two Dixon kills helped Princeton to a 14-10 lead. Wilcox kept McKendree alive momentarily, before a Huhmann putaway gave the Tigers the victory.
Sacred Heart def. Alderson Broaddus 3-1 (29-27, 23-25, 25-16, 25-17)
- Sacred Heart moves to 3-10; Alderson Broaddus falls to 3-14
- Fairfield, Connecticut
- Box Score
- Sacred Heart Recap / Alderson Broaddus Recap
Key Stats: SHU ended a six-match losing skid by outdoing the Battlers in every statistical category. The Pioneers outhit Alderson Broaddus .210 to .109, thank in part to a .440 effort in Set 3 and .379 clip in Set 4. A 7-2 advantage in aces and 9.5-9 lead in blocks also aided the Sacred Heart effort.
Stat Leaders: Redshirt junior middle Taylor Bloomquist was the lone Sacred Heart player with double-digit kills, but he had help from six other Pioneers with five or more putaways. Bloomquist notched 11 kills on a team-best .625 hitting effort, while also accounting for a team-high five blocks and two aces. Freshman outside Shawn Tischler added seven kills, seven digs and five blocks. Sophomore middle Rob Chatterton and redshirt junior right side Emerson Waumans chipped in six kills apiece.
Senior outside Francisco Cabrera and freshman outside Alex Sands led the Battlers with 14 and 10 kills respectively, while each adding one ace. Neither hit better than .100 in the match, however. Senior middle Myles Miller turned in seven kills at a team-high .538 clip, while also notching six blocks.
It Was Over When: Sacred Heart broke away with a 7-0 run in Set 4, taking a 13-6 lead, which it would not relinquish. Tischler managed two kills an a block in the run, which also included two AB miscues. The Battlers would get no closer than six the rest of the way, last at 14-8. The Pioneers upped the advantage to 10 at 20-10 with a kill and a block by Bloomquist and two Alderson Broaddus service errors. Down 22-12, the Battlers put together a 5-2 run, thwarting two match-point tries at 24-15, but a Waumans putaway prevented a further comeback.
Belmont Abbey def. Queens 3-0 (25-17, 32-30, 25-23)
- Belmont Abbey moves to 9-14; Queens falls to 4-17
- Belmont, North Carolina
- Box Score
- Queens Recap / Belmont Abbey Recap
Key Stats: The Crusaders started the night with a .500 hitting percentage in Set 1 and fell under .200 the rest of the way, but won the match with a 7-3 lead in aces and 41-29 advantage in kills. Queens hit under .100 in the first two sets and outhit Belmont Abbey .167 to .147 in the final stanza deuce loss.
Stat Leaders: Sophomore outside Liam Maxwell posted a 15-kills, 10-dig double-double, served up four aces and added three blocks to pace Belmont Abbey. Freshman middle Brian Long added 11 kills, while hitting at a .529 clip. Three other players added four or more kills, including freshman middle William Morris who notched four putaways and a team-leading six blocks.
Senior outside Jake Dube was the top hitter for Queens with eight kills on an error-free .727 hitting effort (8-0-11). Freshman outside Nic Cavallaro and freshman outside Tristan Santoyo chipped in six kills apiece, but each hit under .100 for the match. Cavallaro, Santoyo and freshman libero Conner Nayaki pulled up eight digs apiece. Santoyo served up all three of the team’s aces. Freshman middle Donovan Bethel added three kills and a team-high three blocks.
It Was Over When: Set 3 featured 11 ties, the last at 23 all, with neither boasting more than a two-point advantage. After trailing 14-12, Queens rallied with five of the next six points, including two Crusader miscues, two Dube putaways and a Santoyo ace, to go up 17-15. The teams traded points over the next 12 serves, leading to a 23-21 Royals advantage. Belmont Abbey closed out the sweep with four straight points, including a pair of hitting errors to set up match point, which came on a Maxwell putaway.
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