No. 4 UC Irvine finished off a season sweep of No. 3 BYU with a solid offensive attack and block. No. 1 Long Beach State and No. 15 Grand Canyon rolled in sweeps and No. 15 Pepperdine was clicking on all offensive cylinders in a four-set neutral site win over Ball State.
Get all the details on who, what and how below.
MATCH STATS
- #15 Pepperdine def. #20 Ball State 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-14)
- Pepperdine moves to 3-2; Ball State falls to 4-3
- Fairfax, Virginia
- Box Score
- Pepperdine Recap / Ball State Recap
Key Stats: Pepperdine hit .350 or better in all four sets, including .400+ in three sets, en route to a .416 hitting effort, which was the difference in the match. Ball State hit .202 with 13 more errors (24-11) but led 9-7 in blocks. The Waves boasted a 6-5 lead in aces, while both teams managed 45 kills.
Stat Leaders: All six Pepperdine players with a kill hit .250 or better in the match. Redshirt junior outside David Wieczorek starred for Pepperdine with 15 kills on a .500 hitting effort, while senior outside Alex Harthaller followed with 10 putaways and two aces. Junior outside Michael Wexter and senior outside Colby Harriman notched seven kills apiece. Wexter hit at a .700 clip with an errorless 10 swings. Junior middle Max Chamberlain was tops on the team at the net with five stuffs to go with his five kill tally.
Sophomore outside Blake Reardon and senior middle Matt Walsh dropped 13 kills apiece to lead the Ball State attack. Walsh hit .500 and put up a team-high six blocks. Sophomore outside Matt Szews added eight kills, five digs and two aces.
It Was Over When: Leading 9-6 in Set 4, Pepperdine scored five straight, including three on BSU miscues. A kill and a block by Harriman pushed the advantage to nine at 16-7. The teams traded points over the next 14 serves leading to a 23-14 score. A service error and hitting error sealed the Waves victory. Eleven of Pepperdine’s 25 points came on Ball State miscues, including eight hitting errors as the Cardinals hit .000.
MATCH STATS
- #12 Grand Canyon def. Ottawa (AZ) 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-20)
- Grand Canyon moves to 8-2; Ottawa falls to 3-3
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Box Score
- Ottawa Recap / Grand Canyon Recap
Key Stats: Seven players turned in kills for GCU, with six hitting .350 or better. The Lopes hit .325 for the match and also made a splash with tough serving to the tune of nine aces. Grand Canyon also bested Ottawa 8.5 to 4 in blocks, holding the Spirit to a .122 hitting efficiency.
Stat Leaders: Senior outside Cody Williams downed nine kills, hit at a team-best .500 clip and pulled up a team-leading five digs to pace Grand Canyon. Redshirt senior outside Cullen Mosher added eight kills and five aces, while junior outside Will Schwob notched six kills and five digs. Redshirt senior outside Ashton King and junior middle Alex Shmelev each accounted for four putaways and a team-leading four blocks.
Sophomore opposite James Yanher posted nine kills and six digs to lead Ottawa. Freshman outside Quintin Campbell and junior outside Kory Peterson followed with seven kills apiece. Peterson and sophomore middle Bryan Ilena managed a team-best three blocks.
It Was Over When: After 11 ties, the last at 18 all in Set 3, Grand Canyon pulled away with a final 7-2 push. Four of the points came on Ottawa errors. A block and a kill by David Kisiel and a Cullen Mosher also aided the rally. In the end, it was a hitting error that capped the 25-20 Lope victory.
MATCH STATS
- #1 Long Beach State def. #14 USC 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-16)
- Long Beach State moves to 9-0; USC falls to 1-5
- Long Beach, California
- Box Score
- USC Recap / Long Beach State Recap
Key Stats: Long Beach State kept USC off balance with its serve, notching eight aces, while hitting at a .425 clip, committing just eight errors in the match. The 49ers also won the block 6-1. For its part, USC hit .180 in the match, with 17 miscues.
Stat Leaders: Junior opposite Kyle Ensing (13) and senior outside Bjarne Huus (10) accounted for more than half of the LBSU offense, each hitting at a better than .400 clip. Ensing hit .436, while also chipping in seven digs, two blocks and two aces. Huus hit at a team-best .571 clip, while serving up four of the team’s eight aces. Junior outside TJ DeFalco added seven putaways and eight digs, while freshman middle Simon Anderson registered six kills and a team-leading four blocks.
Junior outside Gianluca Grasso was tops among the Trojans with 11 kills, while redshirt junior outside Jack Wyett (8) and junior outside Ryan Moss (8) followed. Moss hit at a team-best .350 clip, while Wyett pulled up a team-leading eight digs.
It Was Over When: LBSU snapped a 4-all tie with a 14-6 run, including three Ensing kills and five USC miscues. Four different players tallied putaways in the stretch. With the 49ers ahead 18-10, the teams began trading points, splitting the next 12, leading to a 24-16 Long Beach State advantage. A triple block by Ensing, DeFalco and Nick Amado set up the final point, which came on a bad set by the Trojans.
MATCH STATS
- #4 UC Irvine def. #3 BYU 3-2 (25-16, 24-26, 25-18, 21-25, 15-13)
- UC Irvine moves to 9-1; BYU falls to 5-2
- Irvine, California
- Box Score
- BYU Recap / UC Irvine Recap
Key Stats: UC Irvine extended its current win streak to seven matches, including back-to-back wins over BYU this weekend. UCI hit .350 for the match and outdid BYU in kills (66-54) and blocks (13-10). The Cougars won the battle at the service line 6-3 in aces. The Anteaters hit .400 or better in the three sets they won, while BYU hit .250 or better in the two sets it took (.346, .269).
Stat Leaders: Freshman outside Joel Schneidmiller led a group of four UCI players with double-digit kills, posting 19 putaways while hitting .424. Senior outside Aaron Koubi (17), junior opposite Karl Apfelbach (15) and sophomore middle Scott Stadick (10) followed. Koubi hit at a team-best .538 clip, while Stadick hit .529 with just one error to go with a team-best six blocks. Apfelbach also put up six stuffs and added seven digs. Junior setter Dante Chakravorti turned in a double-double with 52 assists and a team-best 13 digs.
Senior outside Brenden Sander, freshman opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez and sophomore outside Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga paced BYU with 16, 13 and 10 kills respectively, each hitting .240 or better. Garcia Fernandez also added two aces and four blocks, while Sander notched two aces and a team-leading six digs. Senior middle Price Jarman registered a team-best five blocks.
It Was Over When: After a back and forth affair throughout the match, Set 5 was no different. UCI surged ahead 6-2 as Koubi took over with four kills. BYU called timeout and scored four of the next six, cutting the margin to two at 8-6 with kills by three different players. Down 10-6 after two Schneidmiller putaways, BYU again took a break and it worked, as the Cougars put together a 6-2 run to knot the score at 12. Aces by Wil Stanley and Sander and a kill and a block by Garcia Fernandez aided the rally. The teams tied again at 13, before the UCI block closed out the match. Back to back stuffs by Chakrvaorti and Younggren wrapped up the 15-13 win.
“It took too long for us to get going tonight and UC Irvine capitalized,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “I liked our fight in the fifth set, and I’m proud of the guys for that.”
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