UCLA, Northridge Sweep; BYU Tops USC in Four Late Saturday

  0 Wendy Mayer | February 11th, 2018 | Big West, College - Men's Indoor, MPSF, News

Standout offensive efforts from UCLA’s Christian Hessenauer, Northridge’s Arvis Greene and BYU’s Brendan Sander lifted their respective squads to Top 20 victories on Saturday night.

 

#2 UCLA def. #9 Grand Canyon 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-18)

Key Stats: UCLA extended its win streak to six matches with a stellar offensive output on the road against No. 9 GCU. The Bruins hit at a season-high .494 clip, marking their fifth straight effort over .400, in the victory. UCLA nearly doubled the Lopes’ kill tally (49-27), while besting them 5-0 in aces and 10-4 in blocks.

Stat Leaders: Senior opposite Christian Hessenauer drove the ship for the Bruins with 14 kills on a .458 hitting effort to go with four blocks and a team-best six digs. Sophomore middle Daenan Gyimah and junior outside Dylan Missry added nine kills apiece and senior outside JT Hatch chipped in seven. Redshirt senior middle Oliver Martin and junior setter Micah Ma’a rounded out the balanced attack with five putaways each. Gyimah put up a team-best six blocks, while Martin hit at a .833 clip (5-0-6) and Ma’a added two aces.

Senior outside Luke Turner and redshirt senior outside Cullen Mosher turned in seven kills apiece to pace the GCU effort. Redshirt senior middle Ashton King put up a team-high three blocks.

It Was Over When: UCLA hit at a match-high .571 clip in Set 3 as Hessenauer turned in four kills and two blocks. Gyimah served up two aces in the stanza, while Ma’a added one. Six Bruins notched kills in the set, which saw UCLA close out the match on a 7-3 run. Leading 18-15, the visitors scored three of the next four, including kills by Gyimah and Hatch and a Ma’a ace. A kill and an ace by Gyimah aided the final 3-0 run to seal the 25-18 victory and the sweep.

 

#13 Cal State Northridge def. #16 Stanford 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22)

Key Stats: CSUN finished a season sweep of Stanford with a home victory on Saturday with help from 15 blocks and seven aces. The Matadors outhit the Cardinal .256 to .188 in the match, including .300 or better efforts in the first two sets. Northridge also outdid Stanford 37-36 in kills, 7-3 in aces and 15-6 in blocks.

Stat Leaders: Senior opposite Arvis Greene made up for missing the first meeting between the teams with a dominant 16 kill effort. Junior middle Eric Chance added seven kills on a team-best .500 hitting effort to go with four blocks, while freshman outside Maciej Ptaszynski and junior outside Dimitar Kalchev notched five kills apiece. Ptaszynski served up a team-best three aces, while junior setter Sam Porter put up a team-high six blocks to go with his 32 assists.  Junior Emmett Enriques was the top libero in the match with 10 digs, ahead of his older brother Evan, who registered eight for the Cardinal.

Freshman outside Jaylen Jasper was tops for Stanford with 13 kills, followed by sophomore outside Eric Beatty (8), freshman middle Kyler Presho (7) and redshirt senior middle Kevin Rakestraw (6). Presho hit at a team-high .308 clip, while Rakestraw put up a team-high four blocks. Senior libero Evan Enriques served up three aces.

It Was Over When: Northridge cruised to a 7-2 lead in Set 3 with four Byers stuffs. Stanford was back within two at 10-8 after back to back aces by Enriques. A 3-0 run, including two blocks, lifted the Cardinal into a tie at 14-all. The teams tied again at 18, 19 and 20, but the Matadors scored five of the final seven points to wrap up the sweep. Ptaszynski notched a kill and an ace and Stanford made two errors in the final stretch of the 25-22 win.

 

#6 BYU def. #18 USC 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 27-25)

Key Stats: BYU picked up its third straight win by topping USC in every statistical category. The Cougars outhit the Trojans .372 to .321 and also outdid USC in kills (63-51), aces (9-5) and blocks (10-5.5).

Stat Leaders: Senior outside Brendan Sander notched a career-high 23 kills and five aces to guide the Cougars to victory. Freshman opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez added 18 kills, while sophomore outside Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga and senior middle Price Jarman followed with nine and seven respectively. Jarman put up five blocks, while Fa’agata-Tufuga hit at a team-best .615 clip.

Junior outside Ryan Moss led the Trojans with 16 kills and five digs, while hitting at a .394 clip, while redshirt junior outside Jack Wyett chipped in 12 kills and a team-leading six digs. Junior outside Gianluca Grasso notched nine putaways and a team-best three aces, while redshirt junior middle Connor Inlow (7) and freshman middle Sam Lewis (6) also aided the team offensively. Lewis put up at a team-high three blocks.

It Was Over When: BYU led by as many as six at 20-14 in Set 4 after three Sander aces, but USC rallied to tie it up at 21 with three kills and a block by Wyett. The Cougars worked their way to a 24-22 lead, but the Trojans tied it up with a kill by Moss and a stuff by Grasso and Inlow. A pair of Sander putaways gave the Cougars two more match point tries and a third finally sewed up the 27-25 victory. All told, Sander had six kills and three aces in the final stanza.

 

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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