Hawai’i wins its 51st consecutive set, BYU, Stanford get upsets
There were three collisions in the AVCA top 15 on Saturday. Undefeated No. 2 Hawai’i kept things rolling, sweeping No. 12 CSUN again to extend its consecutive win streak to 51. It was also a good night to be home as there were two significant MPSF upsets as No. 8 Stanford defeated No. 4 UCLA in five sets at Maples Pavilion, and No. 9 BYU upset No. 6 Pepperdine at the Smith Fieldhouse. All of those recaps to follow, but first Sunday’s schedule.
All five of the major NCAA conferences are off on Sunday. The EIVA has two non-conference matches Monday as NJIT heads to Belmont Abbey, and Harvard goes to the Conference Carolina’s Barton. The MIVA resumes action Tuesday as the MIVA’s Ohio State heads to the EIVA’s Penn State. The MPSF’s next match is on Thursday as Pepperdine goes to the Smith Fieldhouse at BYU.
In the only Big West matchup of the day, undefeated No. 2 Hawai’i (17-0, 4-0) swept CSUN (10-10, 0-4) 25-16, 25-17, 25-18. The win extends the Warriors’ NCAA best set win streak to 51.
Hawai’i opposite Rado Parapunov led with 17 kills, a .520 percentage, two aces, two blocks and five digs. Dalton Solbrig followed with 10 kills, a .909 percentage, an assist, three blocks and two digs.
Dimitar Kalchev led the Matadors with nine kills, two solo blocks and four digs.
In the MPSF, No. 8 Stanford (14-8, 5-4) upset No. 4 UCLA (16-6, 6-2) in a squeaker at home in Maples Pavilion 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 15-10.
Stanford’s Jordan Ewert took full advantage of his senior night, finishing with 23 kills, four digs, two blocks and an ace. Stanford outhit UCLA .430 to .274.
On the UCLA side, Brandon Rattray led all attackers with 24 kills and two aces.
No. 9 BYU (11-6) upset No. 6 Pepperdine (15-6) in a tight 28-26, 27-25, 22-25, 26-24 battle at the Smith Fieldhouse. It was a good week for the Cougars, having previously upset No. 4 UCLA on Thursday.
Felipe de Brito Ferreira led BYU with blocking, scoring a career-high 13 blocks, the most by any Cougar since 2014. He also had a kill, an assist, and a dig. Gabi Garcia Fernandez led with 20 kills, two assists, an ace, eight digs and nine blocks.
Pepperdine’s Michael Wexter had 19 kills, followed by Kaleb Denmark and David Wieczorek with 15 each.
In MPSF non-conference action, No. 14 George Mason (13-6, 6-2) of the EIVA avenged Friday’s loss to Grand Canyon (11-12) of the MPSF with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-14 sweep. The Patriot’s redshirt sophomore Jack Reese followed Friday’s 12 career blocks with 10 Saturday. He also contributed five kills while hitting .625. Mason cleaned up their service game significantly, reducing their service errors from 19 Friday to seven Saturday.
Hayden Wagner had a Mason-high 13 kills plus four blocks and two aces.
The loss ended the Lopes nine-match win streak, their fifth over ranked opponents.
No. 10 USC (12-8, 4-4) dealt a loss to Concordia Irvine (10-14, 1-6) 21-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-20. USC outhit the Eagles .304 to .202, outblocked them 9.5 to 6.0, and outdug them 34 to 30 on a day that USC’s 1988 championship team was honored, the program’s third NCAA crown.
The Trojan’s Ryan Moss led the match with 18 kills, five blocks and a dig. Jack Wyett chipped in 14 kills, five blocks and five digs. Raymond Barsemian led Concordia with 13 kills, an assist, three blocks and nine digs.
In the EIVA, Harvard (5-9, 5-3) swept Sacred Heart (2-11, 1-7) 25-21, 25-18, 25-20 at the Malkin Athletic Center. Harvard’s defense led the contest, outdigging Sacred Heart 31 to 26. Griffin Schmit recorded 12 of those digs and two blocks. Matt Ctvrtlik had eight digs and 26 assists.
Taylor Bloomquist led Sacred Heart with nine kills and one dig while hitting .500.
NJIT (5-12, 1-7) swept Charleston (7-14, 1-8) 25-20, 25-18, 25-21 for its second consecutive win of the weekend against the Highlanders.
NJIT outhit Charleston .383 to .250 as Alvaro Gimeno had 15 kills, two aces and three blocks, Jens Feldthus had 10 kills and a block, and Piotr Namiotko had 8 kills, an ace and a block.
Brandon Greenway led the Golden Eagles with 10 kills, followed by Byron Hurd and Eugene Stuart with eight.
No. 15 Ball State (12-10) defeated Penn State (8-12) 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-23 after the Cardinals honored its four seniors in a pregame ceremony. Matt Szews led Ball State with 21 kills, an ace and two blocks, Ben Chinnici had 10 kills and four blocks, David Siebum had 10 kills, two aces and a block, and senior Parker Swartz had five kills, an ace and three blocks.
Penn State’s Henrik Falck Lauten led his team with 14 kills, an assist, three blocks, two solo and six digs.
No. 13 Purdue Fort Wayne (13-7) edged Saint Francis (11-10) in a five-set 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 15-13 match.
PFW’s Pelegrin Vargas had 19 kills, five digs, three blocks, two assists and an ace. Six of his kills came in the fifth set. The win is the Mastodons’ fifth consecutive.
The Red Flash’s Michael Fisher led all attackers with 21 kills, three assists, an ace, two blocks and six digs.
There were four matches involving Conference Carolina teams. King (12-8, 8-2) swept Belmont Abbey (9-7, 4-5) 25-20, 25-22, 25-21. Barton (14-3, 9-1) defeated Emmanuel (8-15, 3-8) 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18. Mount Olive (7-11, 6-4) defeated Erskine (5-15, 3-8) 32-30, 25-21, 25-27, 25-21. Limestone (9-7) defeated Alderson Broaddus (0-12) 25-12, 25-18, 25-21.
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