Stanford, Cal Poly and USC win; Vibe sweep in Pro Volleyball play

Fourth-ranked UCLA rewarded past greats among a crowd of nearly 5,000 at venerable Pauley Pavilion with a sweep of its weekend series with No. 11 USC, and 13th-ranked Loyola Chicago bolstered its relevance in the MIVA race by upsetting No. 7 Ohio State to highlight NCAA men’s Division I-II volleyball on Saturday.

In the Professional Volleyball Federation, a five-point run by serving specialist Kacie Evans was instrumental in swinging the momentum during a highly competitive three-set road victory by the Atlanta Vibe over the San Diego Mojo. Recaps will follow this look at Sunday’s light indoor schedule.

The headliner among the collegiate men is No. 8 Stanford (8-7, 1-2 MPSF) at No. 1 Grand Canyon (14-0, 5-0) in the second installment of a weekend series. No. 5 UC Irvine (11-4, 1-0) welcomes No. 18 UC San Diego (7-9, 1-1) in a Big West tussle. The NEC’s Sacred Heart (6-10) visits No. 3 Hawaii (13-1) of the Big West. And in the MIVA, league leader Ball State (13-7, 6-1, ranked 12th, plays host to Queen’s (6-12, 2-7).

The Columbus Fury (3-2) will carry a three-match winning streak into its PVF encounter with the host Orlando Valkyries (4-4). Outside hitter Megan Courtney Lush, who sat out the Fury’s road victory on Monday over the Vegas Thrill, is listed among the probable starters.

The PVF also has two matches on Monday: The Vibe visit the Vegas Thrill (3-5) and the Mojo play host to the Grand Rapids Rise (3-3). 

NCAA men 

With 4,727 in attendance at historic Pauley – including members of the Bruins’ NCAA championship teams of 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984 – UCLA (14-4, 5-1) took its eighth consecutive victory over USC (10-8, 2-4) 26-24, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21. After a sweep at the Trojans’ Galen Center on Thursday night, the Bruins pleased their partisan Saturday throng by recording a 58-39 advantage in kills, outdigging USC 30-19 and outhitting their crosstown rival .382-.202. All-American middle blocker Merrick McHenry dialed up three aces and was a flawless 7-for-7 on attacks in his 15th consecutive match hitting better than .400.

UCLA’s Zach Rama ripped 16 kills with four errors on 25 swings (.480) and Grant Sloane chipped in 13 kills and two aces. Riley Haine was the only Trojan in double-figure kills with 11.

Loyola Chicago got back-to-back kills from freshman outside hitter Daniel Fabikovic to put the finishing touches on a hard-fought 25-22, 20-25, 30-28, 15-25, 15-12 victory over error-prone Ohio State before 1,591 in Columbus.

In winning their third in a row, the Ramblers improved to 11-8 overall and 6-3 in the MIVA, good for third place in the standings. Loyola swept the regular-season series with the Buckeyes after also prevailing in five sets on its home court.

Fabikovic rang up 15 kills against four errors on 31 attacks (hitting .355), and added an ace, a solo block and five block assists. Pin mate Parker Van Buren cracked at a .405 clip (19 kills with four errors on 35 swings).

Redshirt junior setter Dan Mangun, a preseason All-American, started for just the fourth time. Mangun quarterbacked an attack that hit .339 overall, and .471 in the tiebreaker, and he brought up a team-high nine digs.

“We want to hang our hats on being a gritty team, and I felt like we were just gritty tonight,” Ramblers coach John Hawks told the media. “We were tough and came up big in big moments. I’m just super proud that it has started to become our identity.” Ohio State (14-4, 8-2) had 21 more kills (75 to 54) than Loyola, but shot itself in the foot with 23 attacking errors and 24 miscues from the service line (against 10 aces). Jacob Pasteur drilled 19 kills and six aces, adding nine digs. Shane Wetzel had 24 kills and hit .391.

Elsewhere in the MIVA No. 14 Lewis (10-8, 4-4) feasted on the pins with Daniel Haber (19 kills, .567 hitting) and Max Roquet (18 kills) during a 25-15, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20 triumph over visiting Purdue Fort Wayne (9-9, 3-6), which hit .179. … Quincy (5-8) of the MIVA dropped a 25-15, 27-25, 25-23 decision on its home court to fast-rising independent Lincoln Memorial (11-4). The 19th-ranked Railsplitters enjoyed a balanced attack led by Griffin Wheatley (nine kills), Luigi Pacini (eight) and Matthew Gentry (eight).

No. 10 Pepperdine (12-5, 2-3) dodged a five-set bullet on the road in the MPSF, pulling out a 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 15-12 victory over last-place Concordia-Irvine (6-7, 0-3). The issue wasn’t settled until the Waves hit .474 in the tiebreaker. Pepperdine got 20 kills on .405 hitting, an ace, 14 digs and four block assists from 6-foot-7 UCLA transfer Cole Ketrzynski. Gage Doble’s 16 kills, two aces, and nine digs helped the Golden Eagles extend the match. … UC Santa Barbara (7-10) of the Big West threw a .070 hitting blanket (26 kills against 21 errors) over visiting Charleston (8-10) of the EIVA in a 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 triumph. Geste Bianchi led the Gauchos with 11 kills and four aces.

In Conference Carolinas action, Mount Olive (12-3, 6-2) prevailed in four over visiting King (2-14, 2-6) despite tough sledding in the last two sets, dropping the third 28-26 before winning the fourth 25-23. Hayden Frear paced the victorious Trojans with 17 kills, two fewer than the total recorded by the Tornado’s one-man gang, AJ Drooker, who hit

.471 and rang up six aces. … Barton (9-5, 4-4) heaped more misery on Lees-McRae (1-16, 0-8), outscoring the visitors 75-45 over three sets.

Harvard (8-5) of the EIVA utilized a balanced offense to notch a four-set road victory over the NEC’s D’Youville (6-6) … Host George Mason (7-7) of the EIVA weathered a third-set speed bump to top the NEC’s Saint Francis (9-6) in four. … Visiting Long Island U. (5-11, 2-3 NEC) held Fairleigh Dickinson (6-8, 0-3) to .126 hitting while winning in four.

In an ECC match, visiting Dominican needed 23 kills from Phineas Wiley to hold off American International in five (15-11 in the tiebreaker). … Logan Whitaker’s 23 kills helped host Merrimack of the NEC trip the ECC’s St. Thomas Aquinas in five sets (15-11 in the fifth). … Jaxson Hicks notched nine kills on .615 efficiency as host Fort 

Valley State swept Kentucky State in the SIAC. … NAIA member Reinhardt improved to 13-1 with home-court sweeps of Talladega and the SIAC’s Edward Waters. … Visiting Maryville topped fellow independent Tusculum in three. … Independent Thomas Moore concluded a road sweep of Roberts Wesleyan of the ECC with a 34-32 third set. 

Pro Volleyball Federation 

When true rookie Kacie Evans (Georgia) subbed in to serve during the second set, the Atlanta Vibe (5-3) trailed the San Diego Mojo (1-5) 19-16. An ace and four more “real points” later, the Vibe had turned the tables.

With outside hitter Leah Edmond and opposite Anna Lazareva terminating with deadly efficiency, the visitors sent a crowd of 3,071 at Viejas Arena home after just 1 hour, 48 minutes with a 26-24, 25-20, 25-3 sweep.

The charismatic Edmond cranked 22 kills (an average of 7.3 per set) against five errors on 41 attacks (.414 efficiency), and had an ace and 12 digs. Russian veteran Lazareva, seemingly getting more comfortable with each PVF match, racked up 20 kills with six errors on 44 swings (.318), adding an ace and two solo blocks.

No other hitter for the Vibe had more than five kills (OH Allie Linnehan was blanked in 18 attempts with four errors), but it hardly mattered. Libero Morgan Hentz amassed 14 digs and five assists.

True rookie Temi Thomas-Ailara (last of Wisconsin) led the Mojo with nine kills but hit .129 on 31 swings. Middle blocker Ronika Stone posted eight kills on 17 errorless swings and fellow middle Hannah Tapp had five point-scoring rejections.

Stanford, Cal Poly and USC win; Vibe sweep in Pro Volleyball play Volleyballmag.com.