The higher seeds not only won Tuesday, but all four victorious teams swept in the NCAA’s National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid.
Thursday’s semifinals are set:
No. 1 UCLA (24-5) vs. No. 4 UC Irvine (20-10), 3:30 p.m. Pacific
No. 2 Long Beach State (26-2) vs. No. 3 Grand Canyon (26-4), 6:30 p.m. Pacific
Both matches can only be seen on NCAA.com. Saturday’s 2 p.m. Pacific final will be shown on ESPN2.
UCLA overpowers Fort Valley State
The defending national champions of the MPSF hit .521 and won 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 to put a quick end to the NCAA trip for eighth-seeded Fort Valley State (17-9), which earned the first SIAC automatic bid.
Ethan Champlin led a balanced Bruins attack with eight kills, hitting .400, to go with an assist, an ace and four digs. Ten UCLA players had kills, including seven by Merrick McHenry, who had no errors in nine attacks to go with three blocks and an ace, and seven kills by Ido David, who had no errors in 11 swings, two aces, two blocks and three digs. Cooper Robinson had six kills with one errors in 12 attacks and Zach Rama had six kills and one error in nine swings. Setter Andrew Rowan had two kills in four errorless tries, 25 assists, an ace, a block and six digs. His team, which four aces and nine serving errors, had 12 kills with one error in 18 attacks in the third set.
Fort Valley State, which opened its season with a loss at UCLA, hit .000 with 17 kills and 17 errors in 69 attacks. Raheem Thomas led with six kills, a solo block — and his team’s only block — and eight digs.
UCI dispatches Penn State
The Anteaters of the Big West turned a highly anticipated match into a 26-24, 25-16, 25-19 outcome. EIVA champion Penn State, the No. 5 seed, ended its season 23-7.
UCI, which hit .435 in third set, finished at .284 and had three aces and nine errors. Hilir Henno had 15 kills but hit .189, to go with an assist, an ace, three digs and five blocks, one solo. William D’Arcy had eight kills and Akhil Tangutur seven, five in the first set when he had one error in six attacks. Maxim Grigoriev had five kills in nine errorless attacks, an assist, two digs and four blocks, one solo. Setter Brett Sheward had a kill in his only attempt, 32 assists, an ace, four blocks and eight digs.
John Kerr had 14 of Penn State’s 33 kills. Toby Ezeonu added eight and five blocks. The Nittany Lions hit .188 and had two aces and 15 errors.
Long Beach State blasts Belmont Abbey
The Beach made short work of the No. 7 seed from Conference Carolinas 25-18, 25-14, 25-11. Belmont Abbey finished its season 21-5.
The Big West champions hit .447 as four players had eight or more kills.
Sotiris Siapanis had 11 kills with one error in 16 attacks to hit .625 and had an assist, an ace, a block and six digs. Nathan Harlan had 10 kills, two assists, an ace, a block and five digs. Skyler Varga had 10 kills, hit .400, and had two aces, a block ans six digs. Simon Torwie had eight kills with one error in 14 attacks, two blocks and a dig. Setter Aidan Knipe had 37 assists, a block and seven digs.
Belmont Abbey, which had won seven in a row, hit .129 with no aces and 10 errors. Zach Puentes led with 11 kills, an assist, a block and five digs.
Grand Canyon dispatches Ohio State
Grand Canyon won an NCAA tournament match for the first time as the Lopes of the MPSF advanced to the semifinals with a 25-18, 25-14, 25-11 victory over sixth-seeded Ohio State (22-9), the MIVA champion.
Camden Gianni had 12 kills, two assists, an ace, two blocks and two digs. Jarrett Anderson had eight kills, an assist, two blocks and six digs. Jackson Hickman had seven kills, an assist, two blocks and six digs. Rico Wardlow had seven kills with no errors in nine attacks, a block and a dig. GCU hit .333 with one ace and seven errors.
Ohio State, which hit .240 and had three aces and 12 errors, got 12 kills from Shane Wetzel. He added an ace, a block and five digs. Jacob Pasteur had 11 kills but eight errors, two aces and five digs. Cole Young had nine kills with one error in 11 attacks and Justin Howard had six kills with one error in 10 swings.
Previous matchups
UCLA beat UC Irvine twice in the regular season and both times Cooper Robinson came away with career highs in kills.
On January 31 at UCI, the Bruins won 25-18, 25-15, 23-25, 21-25, 15-9 as Robinson, a 6-foot-7 sophomore from Pacific Palisades, California, had 22 kills. Henno had 15 kills for UCI.
Two days later at home, UCLA won 25-23, 23-25, 28-26, 25-22 as Robinson had 23 kills. Robinson has not had more than 13 kills in a match since. Nolan Flexen led UCI in that one with 19 kills.
Long Beach and GCU did not play this season. Long Beach is 18-0 this season in the Pyramid.
Sweep-stakes: UCLA, UCI, Long Beach, GCU all win 3-0 in NCAA men’s volleyball Volleyballmag.com.
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