CHICAGO -- Loyola Chicago trounced No. 15 Ohio State in a three-set sweep (25-15, 25-20, 25-23) on Saturday afternoon, earning its first Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) win in its conference opener. With the victory, the Ramblers improve to 7-1 overall (1-0 MIVA) while the Buckeyes drop to 4-4 on the season (2-1 MIVA).
"It feels awesome to get the first conference win under our belts, especially against Ohio State, who is a great team," head coach Shane Davis said. "It was a tough battle and it was fun throughout the entire match for the crowd to watch."
Joe Smalzer led the Ramblers with 17 kills for the match, operating a .361 (17-4-36) clip, while Cody Caldwell contributed 13 kills and six digs. Peter Hutz ended the day with 37 assists, eight digs and two blocks.
Loyola outhit the Buckeyes .398-.222 and enjoyed a staggering 50-25 advantage in kills.
No. T1 UCLA 3, No. 8 UC Irvine 1
IRVINE, Calif. -- Top-ranked UCLA notched its ninth win in a row with a four-set decision at No. 8 UC Irvine on Saturday night in an MPSF match. Scores of the contest were 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18.
The Bruins rallied from an 11-13 deficit in set one to tie the score at 13-all after a kill and an ace by Robart Page. UCLA extended the advantage to 20-16 after kills by Michael Fisher and Gonzalo Quiroga and went on to post a 25-19 win.
In set two, UCLA broke an early 5-5 tie and went up 10-8. Irvine came back to even things up at 15-all. Back-to-back aces from Quiroga made it 21-16 and UCLA closed out the Anteaters 25-19 following a service error.
UCLA enjoyed a 5-3 lead early in set three. The defending national champs stormed back to go up 12-14. UCLA tied it at 15-all on a kill by Quiroga. Irvine then rattled off the next three points to go up 15-18. The Bruins could not get closer and fell 20-25.
In set four, UCLA started strong and opened up a 7-2 lead. UCLA still led 14-6 after a Page kill. Another Page kill made it 21-14. A block by Spencer Rowe and Quiroga ended set four with UCLA owning a 25-18 edge.
Page finished the match with a team-best 16 kills and two aces. Quiroga added 15 kills, 12 digs and four aces. Rowe hit .600 and totaled six blocks. Michael Beals recorded 43 set assists, seven digs and two blocks. Ian Sequeira registered eight digs.
No. 4 BYU 3, No. 5 Southern California 2
LOS ANGELES -- Josue Rivera led No. 4 BYU to victory against No. 5 Southern California on Saturday, pulling off a season-high 15 kills in the 3-2 (16-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-20, 15-10) road contest.
"It was a strange match, rhythmically," BYU head coach Chris McGown said. "We alternated playing very well and very poorly. We managed to find a way to grind out a win, and it was a real testament to the work ethic of the guys."
Rivera hit .370 on the night, also adding eight digs and three blocks. Senior Taylor Sander contributed 14 kills and eight digs, helped out by Tyler Heap’s 41 assists. Heap also set a career high in blocks with five to lead the Cougars (7-3, 7-1 MPSF).
BYU out-blocked the Trojans (5-3, 4-3 MPSF) 13.5-12 to make up for losing the kills battle 63-50.
Down 2-1 in the overall score, BYU fell behind 5-1 in the fourth set but inched back on a 4-1 run. Carson Heninger tied the score at 10 on an ace. A Heap and Hatch block put the Cougars ahead for the first time in the set 13-12, and Heninger followed up with a kill.
Sander shut down a long rally with an attack USC couldn’t return to put BYU ahead 22-18. A Trojan service error put BYU in set-point position, setting up Michael Hatch and Heninger to take the set 25-20 on a block.
The Cougars and Trojans started the fifth set neck and neck until a Heninger kill launched a 5-0 run. Rivera and Devin Young blocked USC’s Cristian Rivera for the 8-3 BYU lead. The Cougars held on to take the set on a Trojan attack error 15-10.
"I thought we finally got a handle on the game plan and started executing that a little bit better toward the end of the match, and I thought that was big for us," McGown said. "We finally got in some of the right spots, started making some blocks, started making some digs."
No. 6 Long Beach State 3, Pacific 0
STOCKTON, Calif. -- Sixth-ranked Long Beach State needed just 65 minutes to top Pacific 25-22, 25-12, 25-16, for its third consecutive victory on Saturday evening at Alex G. Spanos Center.
Senior Ian Satterfield was nearly unstoppable as he finished with 13 kills and no errors on 23 swings for a season-best .565 hitting percentage. Senior Taylor Crabb registered a match-high 15 kills to go along with seven digs, while classmate Dalton Ammerman chipped in nine kills, a match-best eight digs and two service aces.
LBSU (6-3, 5-3 MPSF) had four players hit at least .400 and finished the night with a .396 team hitting percentage. The 49ers also had a season-high six aces.
Long Beach State held Pacific (1-8, 0-6 MPSF) to a .145 hitting percentage. Thomas Hodges led the Tigers with 11 kills.
No. 7 Stanford 3, No. 13 Cal State Northridge 0
STANFORD, Calif. -- Behind senior Eric Mochalski, No. 7 Stanford swept No. 13 Cal State Northridge (25-21, 25-18, 25-19) on Saturday at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal moves to 5-4 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Matadors fall to 3-4 on the year and 3-3 in the conference.
Mochalski, making his first start of the season at opposite, led the Cardinal with 11 kills on 16 swings with no errors to hit .688. He also put down three of Stanford’s eight service aces on the night.
“I think everyone played really well tonight,” Mochalski said. “We passed great. Grant [Delgado] was huge for us tonight, directing the back row. [Steven] Irvin and [Brian] Cook are both great passers and carry the load offensively for us. When we are in system, James [Shaw] puts up a great ball for us.
“I was lucky tonight that they weren’t paying too much attention to me and I was getting a lot of one-on-one match-ups. Any opposite in the league can put away balls in one-on-one situations. It was really a team effort for us tonight.”
Senior Steven Irvin added 10 kills and 11 digs for the Cardinal, while senior Brian Cook finished with nine kills on a .308 attack percentage. Setter James Shaw tallied 31 assists in the win while directing the offense, which hit .344. Shaw added six kills, five digs, two blocks and two aces in the win.
Stanford, which was coming off a loss on Friday to No. 6 Long Beach State, held the Matadors to a .209 attack percentage and out blocked CSUN 6.0 to 2.0. The Cardinal also sided out at a rate of 69 percent for the match.
“We were definitely disappointed after last night’s loss [to Long Beach State],” Mochalski said. “We did a good job as a team of refocusing and getting our minds right for tonight’s match.”
Senior middle Denny Falls was also productive when the Cardinal went to him offensively. He notched four kills on five swings with no errors, and collected three blocks. Sophomore middle Conrad Kaminski added four kills and two aces. Redshirt junior libero Grant Delgado finished with nine digs and an assist.
Freshman Damani Lenore led Cal State Northridge with 11 kills and five digs. Freshman libero Bradley Sakaida finished with a match-high 13 digs.
