Saturday was good day for the two Big Ten teams that play NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
Fourth-ranked Penn State beat previously unbeaten UCLA and No. 13 Ohio State knocked off No. 10 USC.
Ninth-ranked Grand Canyon is off to the program’s best start at 10-0 after rallying against No. 7 UC Irvine and Charleston improved to 8-0 with a sweep of Erskine.
The other unbeatens are the Big West’s top-ranked Hawai’i (7-0) and No. 3 Long Beach (6-0).
Hawai’i, off since January 28, goes to Stanford on Saturday.
The line of the day went to Purdue Fort Wayne’s Jon Diedrich, who had 27 kills while hitting .377 with two aces, four digs and five blocks, three solo, in a five-set win at George Mason that left the Mastodons 8-1.
There are no matches Sunday after Tusculum at NJIT was postponed. The Tusculum match scheduled for Saturday at Princeton was also posptoned. Tusculum reported positive COVID-19 tests within its program.
There are no matches Monday, either. Tuesday, there are seven, including 8-0 Charleston of the EIVA home for independent Alderson Broaddus.
Penn State (8-1) of the EIVA beat visiting UCLA (9-1) of the MPSF as it got 15 kills from Cal Fisher in the 25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 25-17 victory. Fisher, in his second match since returning from an injury, hit .367 and had three aces, two blocks and six digs. Michal Kowal had 10 kills, two assists, two blocks and six digs. Toby Ezeonu had five kills in 11 errorless attacks and seven blocks, one solo. Penn State hit .317 and had six aces — three by Brett Wildman — and 14 errors.
UCLA’s Ido David had 12 kills and J.R. Norris IV 11 while hitting .600. UCLA hit .295 and had three aces and 20 errors …
Also at Penn State, Ohio State (7-3) of the MIVA downed USC (6-4) of the MPSF as Jacob Pasteur had 18 kills in the 25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 25-17 victory. Pasteur hit .343 and had five assists, an ace, a block and nine digs. Sam Clark had 10 kills, two blocks and two digs. Noah Platfoot had four kills in five errorless tries, 43 assists, nine digs and two blocks, one solo. The Buckeyes hit .322 and had four aces and 14 errors. USC, which hit .239 and had five aces and 16 errors, got 14 kills from Simon Gallas. He added an assist, an ace, 11 digs and three blocks, one solo. Kyle Paulson had six kills an seven blocks …
Grand Canyon (10-0) is the only MPSF team left unbeaten after its 25-21, 21-25, 19-25, 29-27, 15-13 comeback victory over UCI (7-3) of the Big West. Jackson Hickman led the Lopes with 19 kills, hit .333 and had an assist, an ace, three digs and five blocks, two solo. Christian Janke had 17 kills, hit .406, and had five digs. Rico Wardlow added 10 kills with one error in 17 attacks and had two digs and six blocks, one solo. GCU hit .333 and nand four aces and 29 errors. UCI’s Hilir Henno had 18 kills, hit .438 and had two assists, two aces, a solo block and seven digs. Francesco Sani had 16 kills, two assists, two aces and five digs. The Anteaters hit .289 and had six aces and 12 errors …
Charleston (8-0) of the EIVA beat visiting Erskine (3-5) of Conference Carolinas 25-17, 25-15, 25-19. Garrett Schnitker had 15 kills, hit .393, and added an assist, an ace, a block and two digs. Charleston, which hit .407, had more aces (10) than errors (8) …
Sixth-ranked Stanford (7-2) of the MPSF swept The Master’s (3-1), an NAIA program …
No. 14 Lewis (6-5) of the MIVA swept visiting Mount Olive (4-3) of Conference Carolinas behind 10 kills by Christian Prayer, who hit .467 and had an assist, an ace, a block and 10 digs …
Four other MIVA teams won. Lindenwood (2-5) swept Missouri S&T (3-8), Quincy (4-4) swept St. Ambrose but then got swept by GrandView College of Iowa, McKendree (5-2) swept LIU (4-4) and Purdue Fort Wayne (8-1) beat the EIVA’s George Mason (1-8) in five. Jon Diedrich led PFW with 27 kills while hitting .377 and had two aces, four digs and five blocks, three solo …
King (5-8) of Conference Carolinas beat the SIAC’s Fort Valley State (1-6) in five despite 25 kills by FVSU’s Isaiah Fedd. He hit .478 and had three assists, three aces, eight digs and a block … Independent Lincoln Memorial (7-4) swept the SIAC’s Central State (3-7) … Saint Francis (PA) of the NEC got its first win and is 1-7 after sweeping independent Alderson Broaddus … Merrimack (3-5) swept Fisher … Matthew Pilch had 20 kills and hit .486 as Queens (2-7) beat Barton (0-6) in four … Daemen (5-1) swept American International (1-9).
Penn St., Ohio St. score big men’s volleyball wins; GCU improves to 10-0 Volleyballmag.com.
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