The first weekend of action for the 2018 men’s season is here with a loaded slate of matches on the day. In terms of the morning schedule, four ranked teams in the VolleyMob Top 20 Power Rankings played. The biggest match in terms of those rankings was between Long Beach State and Princeton, however it was another ranked team from the west coast providing the story of the morning:
#6 Stanford def. Saint Francis 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 26-24, 29-27)
- Saint Francis 1-1, #6 Stanford 0-1
- Box Score
- Saint Francis Press Release
- Stanford Press Release
The Cardinal are the first upset of the 2018 season as Saint Francis scores the victory. It’s a nice bounce-back for the Red Flash too after opening up the season with a loss to CSUN. Saint Francis started and ended the match with a bang, hitting .444 in the first and .483 in the fourth led by Cole Thompson (17 kills, .281). Overall though, it was the block (9-4 in team blocks favoring Saint Francis) and defense that did in the three-headed Stanford monster of Kevin Rakestraw, Eric Beatty and Jordan Ewert.
#2 Long Beach State def. #15 Princeton 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-14)
- #2 LBSU 2-0, #15 Princeton 0-2
- Box Score
- LBSU Press Release
- Princeton Press Release
LBSU looked like the National Title contender they are and not just beat Princeton but dominated them. They hit .542 to Princeton’s .059. It’s important to point out that Princeton star middle blocker Junior Oboh has been injured in their first two matches, but some difficulties in serve reception and being overwhelmed by the 49ers attack shows more issues. Still, Beach is so good when on their game that maybe the struggles are less concerning.
#13 CSUN def. NJIT 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 26-24)
- #13 CSUN 2-0, NJIT 0-3
- Box Score
- CSUN Press Release
- NJIT Press Release
CSUN flexed a strong block in limiting the NJIT offense to a .077 hitting percentage. They got plenty of contributions from Arvis Greene on the other end of things, as the Matadors star logged 10 kills and 16 points when factoring in his three blocks and four aces. A neutral court meeting with fellow top-15 ranked Princeton comes next for CSUN – their first real test of 2018.
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