Atlanta takes Pro Volleyball Federation lead; Ball St., McKendree, Loyola, Pepperdine men win
The Atlanta Vibe took sole possession of first place in the Pro Volleyball Federation with a four-set road victory over the Omaha Supernovas.
In NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball, Ball State came with a big victory, while also in the MIVA McKendree knocked off Lewis. Three other ranked teams — Loyola Chicago, Pepperdine and UC San Diego — all won.
The recaps follow, but first a look at Friday’s schedule.
The Ides of March includes the Big West match of the season as new No. 1 Hawai’i goes to No. 2 Long Beach State. Hawai’i, which has won 16 in a row, is 17-1 and opens its Big West season. The Rainbow Warriors will also be playing for the first time without leading attacker Spyros Chakas, lost for the season with a leg injury. Chakas recorded 195 of UH’s 767 kills. Long Beach State (16-1) is already 2-0 in conference play. Also in the Big West, fifth-ranked UC Irvine is at No. 19 UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego, coming off its Thursday win over CSUN, plays the No. 16 Matadors again, this time in Northridge.
The lone MIVA match has Lindenwood at Purdue Fort Wayne
The only MPSF team in action is No. 4 Grand Canyon, which plays host to the EIVA’s NJIT.
Three other EIVA teams play as Charleston goes to North Greenville of Conference Carolinas, No. 15 Princeton is at the NEC’s Fairleigh Dickinson, and No. 17 George Mason is home for Mount Olive of Conference Carolinas.
There’s an NEC match when Merrimack goes to Sacred Heart and the NEC’s LIU is home St. Thomas Aquinas of the ECC. The ECC’s Dominican is home Kentucky State of the SIAC.
Two other Conference Carolinas teams are in action as Belmont Abbey is home for independent Tusculum and King entertains Warner.
Lincoln Memorial is at Thomas More in a match of independents.
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Pro Volleyball Federation
Not only did Atlanta top Omaha, the league had some significant off-the-court news.
ATLANTA 3, OMAHA 1: The Vibe improved to 8-3, while Omaha fell to 7-4 after Atlanta’s 25-20, 15-25, 25-21, 25-12 victory.
Anna Lazareva led the Vibe wity 18 kills, 10 digs, seven block assists and an ace. Leketor Member-Meneh had 10 kills, an ace, eight digs and three blocks, two solo. Leah Edmond had 12 kills, 17 digs and three blocks, two solo. Jehlarova Magdalena added five kills, two digs and eight blocks, four solo.
Brooke Nuneviller and Nia Reed had nine kills each for the Supernovas. Nuneviller had 12 digs, an ace and a block, and Reed added an ace, five digs and a block assist. Hristina Vuchkova had five kills but hit negative and had three digs and nine blocks, five solo.
The crowed at CHI Center was announced as 8,114.
The next PVF match is Saturday when the Orlando Valkyries visit Omaha. Sunday, the Vegas Thrill go to the Grand Rapids Rise.
PVF HAPPENINGS: The league will finally be seen on the CBS Sports Network, starting on April 6 when Orlando plays at Grand Rapids. It’s the first of seven showings on the cable network. the 24-hour home of CBS Sports.
The PVF said, “Each Pro Volleyball Federation team will be featured in at least one telecast as part of the schedule, with Grand Rapids and Omaha leading the league with three appearances each. This year’s slate is part of a multi-year agreement with CBS Sports.” Click here for the complete PVF news release …
Before Thursday’s match, Atlanta traded Tori Dilfer Stringer to the Columbus Fury. The former Louisville star reunites with Columbus coach Ángel Pérez, whom she played for in 2022 on Las Pinkin de Corozal in Puerto Rico. Stringer was named the Puerto Rican’s league’s best setter in the 2022-23 season. After aquiring Stringer for future draft picks, the Fury waived setter Gabby Blossom …
The PVF is a seven-team league with more franchises coming on board in 2025. One of them, Dallas, that basketball hall of famer Nancy Leiberman will be one of its owner. Click here for the complete PVF news release.
NCAA men
No. 15 Ball State (15-7, 7-1 MIVA) hold a two-game lead in the loss column over No. 8 Ohio State (15-6, 8-3), No. 20 McKendree (12-6, 7-3) and No. 12 Loyola Chicago (13-8. 7-3) after its 34-32, 15-25, 25-22, 26-24 victory at Ohio State.
Patrick Rogers had 24 kills for Ball State, hitting .383, to go with three assists and eight digs. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva had 16 kills, an ace, three blocks and four digs. Lucas Machado had four kills in five errorless tries, 41 assists, two blocks and eight digs. His team hit .241 and had four aces and 14 serving errors.
Ohio State’s Shane Wetzel, had 22 kills, eight in the first set. Wetzel, who hit .326, had no aces and five errors, two blocks and six digs. Jacob Pasteur had 11 kills but nine errors, three assists, an ace, trhee blocks and eight digs. Ohio State hit .231 and also had four aces and 14 errors …
McKendree won 21-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 15-11 at Lewis (11-11, 4-5) behind 20 kills from Kevin Schuele, who hit .310 and had an assist and four digs. Sam Hoskin and Nathan Flayter had 11 kills each and D’Aaron McCraney had 10 kills with one error in 17 attacks, a dig and four blocks, one solo. Tyler Poulson had two kills in three errorless tries, 46 assists, three aces, two blocks and seven digs. His team his .344 and had eight aces and 16 errors. Lewis, which hit .301 and had five aces and 20 errors, got 20 kills from Daniel Haber and 19 from Max Roquet. Haber hit .429 and had an ace, a block and seven digs. Tyler Morgan had a kill, 52 assists, three blocks and nine digs … Also in the MIVA, Loyola Chicago beat visiting Quincy (5-12, 1-9) as Parker Van Buren had 18 kills, Daniel Fabikovic 15 and Jake Read 14 in the 25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14 victory. Van Buren hit .483 and had an assist, an ace, a block and a dig. Loyola hit .419 and had seven aces and 16 errors. Quincy’s Raje Alleyne had 16 kills, an ace, three blocks and five digs …
In the MPSF, No, 9 Pepperdine (15-5, 3-3) beat visiting No 12 USC (11-10, 2-5) as Cole Ketrzynski had 15 kills, Ryan Wheeler 10 and Martin de Chavarria nine in the 28-26, 25-23 25-20 victory. Ketrzynski had no aces and five errors, but three block and five digs. Wheeler hit .615 and had three aces, four blocks and two digs. de Chavarria also hit .615 with one error in 13 swings and had four blocks and three digs. Ryan Graves has a kill, 47 assists, an ace, a block and four digs. His team hit .358 and had five aces and 15 errors. USC, which hit .342, had three aces and 18 errors. Dillon Klein led with 19 kills, two blocks and three digs. Caleb Blanchette had 44 assists, a block and 13 digs …
No.18 UC San Diego (10-10, 2-2 Big West) beat visiting No. 16 CSUN (9-9, 0-1) as Anthony Cherfan had 12 kills, two aces, seven block and seven digs in the 20-25, 25-22, 25-12, 25-22 victory. CSUN’s Kyle Hobus had 23 kills, an assist, an ace, a block and six digs …
Roberts Wesleyan (8-11) of the ECC beat the SIAC’s Kentucky State (5-9) in four. Griffin Monrad had 12 kills with one error in 26 attacks.
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