Ball State, McKendree, UCSB win men’s volleyball; PVF’s Omaha tops Vegas
Ball State and McKendree won MIVA matches and UC Santa Barbara won a tough four-setter against a DIII opponent in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball Thursday.
In the Pro Volleyball Federation, the Omaha Supernovas had a balanced attack and ruined the franchise opener in Henderson, Nevada, with a four-set win over the Vegas Thrill.
Recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Thursday’s schedule.
There are two MPSF matches, as second-ranked Grand Canyon, off since February 3, plays at No. 6 BYU and No. 12 USC is home for Concordia Irvine.
Seventh-ranked UC Irvine of the Big West is at No. 5 Stanford of the MPSF.
Two other Big West teams are in action as top-ranked Long Beach State plays host to winless Central State of the SIAC and No. 20 UC San Diego plays the SIAC’s Edward Waters at Long Beach.
MIVA play continues with three matches, No. 8 Ohio State home for Quincy, No. 13 Lewis home for Lindenwood and Queens at McKendree.
In the EIVA, No. 9 Penn State goes to No. 15 Princeton, Charleston is at Harvard and George Mason is at NJIT.
Conference Carolinas play shows Barton at Belmont Abbey, Mount Olive at North Greenville, Lees-McRae at Erskine and King at Emmanual.
There are three NEC matches with Daemen at Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (PA) at LIU and D’Youville at Merrimack.
The SIAC’s Fort Valley State and Morehouse both play Talledega. There’s an ECC match with Roberts Wesleyan at St. Thomas Aquinas. Among independents, Tusculum is at Thomas More, Roosevelt is at Maryville and Missouri S&T plays Cumberland.
There is one Pro Volleyball Federation match when the Columbus Fury (0-1) go to the Orlando Valkries (1-2).
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NCAA men
No. 14 Ball State and McKendree won in the MIVA.
Patrick Rogers had 22 kills as Ball State (10-7. 3-1) beat visiting Purdue Fort Wayne (7-6, 1-3). Rogers hit .515 and had an ace, three blocks and nine digs in the 25-19, 26-24, 25-23 victory. Tinasihe Ndavazocheva added 10 kills, hit .318, and had an assist, a block and six digs. Lucas Machado had a kill in three errorless tries, 35 assists, two blocks and nine digs. Mark Frazier had 12 kills for PFW to go with a dig and four blocks, one solo. Bryce Walker had seven kills with one error in 13 swings, both of his team’s aces, three digs and four blocks, one solo …
McKendree (6-4, 3-1) came away with a hard-dought 26-28, 25-22, 25-19, 33-31 victory over visiting Queens (6-8, 2-3) as Kevin Schuele had 18 kills, Nikos Xydakis 15 and Sam Hoskin 14. Schuele, who hit .400, had five aces, four blocks and nine digs. Xydakis added an ace, four blocks and five digs, and Hoskin had two assists, two blocks and seven digs. D’Aaron McCraney had seven kills with one error, an assist, a dig and five blocks. Tyler Poulsen had three kills in four errorless tries, 52 assists, ana ce, two blocks and a team-high 10 digs. Queens was led by Jack Brinkman, who had 17 kills, two assists, an ace, two blocks and five digs. Chance Shampine had 13 kills, hit .393, and hada two digs. Ruben Emmerich added 10 kills, an assist, nine digs and two blocks, one solo. Daniel Leitao had a kill, 42 assists, eight dig and three blocks, one solo. Chris Peters had 14 digs and an assist …
Two Big West teams won.
No. 18 UC Santa Barbara (5-9) battled to a 22-25, 29-27, 26-24, 25-19 at Division III Cal Lutheran (11-4), which took a set off a Division I opponent for the first time in program history. UCSB hit .333 and had three aces and 20 serving errors. Geste Bianchi led with 16 kills, an ace, two blocks and nine digs. Ben Coordt had 15 kills with two errors in 24 attacks to hit .542, and added an assist and three digs. Their teammates combined for 22 kills. Jack Walmer had 49 assists, an ace, two blocks and six digs.
Cal Lutheran, which hit .256 and had two aces and 20 errors, got 16 kills from Michael Stahl, who had an ace, six digs and two blocks, one solo. Jordan Cooper had 11 kills, an assist, no aces and five errors, and five digs. Ben Weber had seven kills, an assist, seven digs and four blocks, two solo. Logan Marks had 1j0 digs and four assists, and ahd Taylor Marks had five kills with one error in six tries, 42 assists, no aces but six errors, two blocks and six digs …
No. 20 UC San Diego (4-8) destroyed Central State (0-13) of the SIAC in Long Beach as the visitors from Ohio had nine kills and 14 errors in the 25-9, 25-14, 25-21 outcome. UCSD, which hit .525, got kills from 10 players, eight by Leo Pravednikov …
Dominican (4-6) of the ECC swept Division III Bard (4-5) as Ayden Shaw had 11 kills, hitting .421.
Supernovas win
The Omaha Supernovas improved to 3-2 with a 25-15, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19 victory at the Vegas Thrill (1-2). Brooke Nuneviller led a balanced Omaha attack with 15 kills, Bethania De La Cruz had 14, Jess Schaben-Lansman 11 and Hristina Vuchkova and Tori Dixon nine each.
Nuneviller had a team-high 13 digs, two aces and three blocks, one solo. Cruz had 12 digs and an ace. Schaben-Lansman had 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Vuchkova added eight blocks, five solo and three digs, and Dixon had two aces and seven blocks, one solo. Kendall White had 11 digs and two assists. The setters, Natalia Valentin-Anderson and Sydney Hilley, combined for 51 assists, nine digs and they had a kill each. The Supernovas had five aces and four serving errors.
Vegas, which won at Omaha in five a week earlier, was led by Saskia Hippe, who had 17 kills, 10 digs and two blocks, one solo. Hannah Maddux has 16 kills, 13 digs and five blocks, three solo. Molly McCage added eight kills, a dig and seven blocks, five solo. The Thrill had no aces but 10 serving errors. Alisha Glass Childress had 44 assist, 19 digs, two kills and five blocks, one solo.
After Columbus at Orlando on Friday, there are two matches Sunday when the Atlanta Vibe go to the Grand Rapids Rise and the Orlando Valkries play at Omaha.
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