Prime-ranked UCLA weathered its highway journey to frigid Chicago, disappointing a file crowd at Loyola by handily dispatching the No. 10 Ramblers on Saturday night time behind red-hot serving and a torrid block.
The Bruins (4-0) wanted solely 95 minutes to inflict a 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 shellacking on Loyola, which might want to do some critical harm management after falling to 1-5, the entire losses coming towards powerhouse packages ranked among the many first 9 within the AVCA/NVA males’s Division I-II ballot. Despatched again into the Arctic blast (wind chill on Chicago’s lakefront was round minus-10 levels) from a packed Gentile Enviornment have been 3,334 followers, the Ramblers’ largest gathering for a regular-season match in historical past.
Defending NCAA champion UCLA of the MPSF have been unaccommodating company, ripping 9 aces (three every by Merrick McHenry, Cooper Robinson and Ethan Camplin) and recording 12 blocks (Man Genis led with 5). After dealing with No. 15 Lewis in 4 units on Thursday night time in southwest-suburban Romeoville, the Bruins’ loaded lineup of veteran stars overwhelmed the MIVA’s Ramblers, who gave heavy court docket time to 4 freshmen.
UCLA’s athletic entrance row hamstrung Loyola’s to-go man, Parker Van Buren, limiting the 6-foot-9 redshirt junior to eight kills towards seven errors on 26 swings, an .038 hitting share. Its blockers additionally tossed a blanket over promising 6-6 freshman Daniel Fabikovic, who hit .000 with seven kills and 7 errors on 24 makes an attempt. The Ramblers managed simply 29 kills over three units and hit .128 general. Conversely, the Bruins attacked at .389 effectivity, led by 6-7 junior All-American Ido David (12 kills on 18 errorless swings, .667), who added seven digs and 4 blocks.
Loyola coach John Hawks, in his second season on the helm of the Chicago college after working as an assistant beneath UCLA’s John Speraw for seven years, took a glass-half-full strategy to his workforce’s effort towards the Bruins. The lone “W” for his Ramblers got here in a five-setter at Hawaii, they usually additionally misplaced to the fourth-ranked Rainbow Warriors, No. 8 Stanford (twice) and No. 9 Brigham Younger.
“That’s the extent we have to be at constantly,” Hawks stated. “We performed rather well in moments and in spurts. I really feel like we’ll determine it out.”
In different highlights over the weekend in nonconference males’s volleyball, Lewis knocked off BYU, Ohio State was prolonged to 5 units on its residence court docket by UC San Diego, Grand Canyon topped Lindenwood twice, Hawaii put a depraved thumping on visiting Emmanuel earlier than a crowd of 5,903 in Honolulu and Stanford went a troublesome 2-for-2 towards UC Santa Barbara in a matchup of ranked West Coast squads. No matches are scheduled on Monday.
Weekend replace
Lewis (2-2) of the MIVA warmed up towards the MPSF’s BYU (3-1) within the tie-breaking fifth set on Saturday after dropping the fourth by 16 factors. Consecutive aces by Max Roquet stoked a rally that acquired the host Flyers to match level within the fifth earlier than Christian Prayer’s kill put an exclamation level on a pulsating 25-16, 25-23, 16-25, 11-25, 15-13 victory. Sophomore Daniel Haber ripped 15 kills and hit .478 for Lewis. The Cougars, who opened their Midwest highway journey with a five-set victory at Loyola on Thursday, acquired 14 kills on .417 hitting from Trent Moser.
No. 5 Ohio State (4-0) of the MIVA fell behind 2-1 to No. 17 UC San Diego (2-3) out of the Huge West earlier than righting its ship on Saturday night time in Columbus. Actual factors on a triple block and an ace by Jacob Pasteur created five-point separation deep within the tiebreaker, resulting in a 24-26, 25-20, 21-25, 25-11, 15-11 triumph by the Buckeyes. Pasteur paved the way in which with 20 kills and 10 digs. The Tritons have been paced by Matthew Lim’s 13 kills and 7 digs.
Sixth-ranked Grand Canyon (5-0) of the MPSF dropped one set over two matches towards visiting Lindenwood (0-2) of the MIVA on Friday and Sunday. The Lopes’ Camden Gianni picked up a mixed 25 kills and hit .466.
The Huge West’s Hawaii (3-1) outscored Emmanuel (0-2) 75-33 over three units on Friday because the shellshocked guests from Convention Carolinas had 9 extra attacking errors than kills (21 towards 12). In his first begin, freshman Louis Sakanolo created havoc with 9 aces, equalling the Rainbow Warriors’ file set by Costas Theocharidis in 2002. All-American Spyros Chakas notched 10 kills on .692 hitting.
Stanford (4-0) of the MPSF loved a productive weekend collection at No. 14 UC Santa Barbara (2-3) of the Huge West. The Cardinal survived in a tense 5 units (16-14 within the fifth) on Friday and prevailed in 4 on Saturday. Will Rotman’s twenty second kill preceded by a service error from the Gauchos’ Sam Collins concluded Friday’s tiebreaker. A 14-5 benefit in blocks loomed massive for Stanford on Saturday, with Nathaniel Gates choosing up six.
Across the nation
Second-ranked Lengthy Seashore State (2-0) of the Huge West gained twice at its Pyramid towards opponents from the NEC. The Seashore swept the LIU on Friday and prevailed in 4 over Saint Francis (0-3) on Saturday, as Clark Godbold notched 12 kills in every. … With Nolan Flexen flexing his hitting muscle groups (20 kills towards two errors on 27 swings), No. 3 UC Irvine (2-1) of the Huge West outgunned visiting No. 15 Princeton (2-1) of the EIVA in 4 units on Saturday. … Dialing up 11 aces, No. 11 Pepperdine of the Huge West then handed visiting LIU (0-3) a four-set defeat. …
The Waves (4-0) on Sunday swamped visiting unbiased Lincoln Memorial (1-2) in three, with Ryan Barnett pounding 12 kills on 18 errorless swings. … Dillon Klien went off for twenty-four kills in a four-set victory by No. 12 USC (4-0) of the MPSF over Lincoln Memorial on Saturday. … No. 18 Cal State Northridge (2-2) of the Huge West defeated the EIVA’s Harvard (0-2) on Friday with the fourth and closing set going to 29-27. … The MPSF’s Concordia Irvine (2-0) swept visiting Springfield (0-1) on Friday, holding the seventh-ranked workforce in Division III to .042 hitting.
No. 7 Penn State (4-0) of the EIVA swung at a .449 clip as a workforce in rolling over Convention Carolina’s King (0-2). John Kerr continued to rack up massive numbers for the host Nittany Lions, cracking 15 kills towards three errors on 25 assaults. He has hit .468 on the season. … No. 19 Charleston of the EIVA opened its season with home-court sweeps of the MIVA’s Queens (0-3) on Friday and Convention Carolinas’ Lees-McRae (0-3) on Sunday. … Lees-McRae additionally dropped a five-setter (15-13 within the fifth) at D-III Saint Vincent on Friday. … No. 13 Ball State (6-2) of the MIVA took six of seven units in a Friday-Saturday collection towards visiting unbiased Tusculum (0-3). Nathan Goh was a one-man gang for the Cardinals with a mixed 23 kills and a .564 hitting share. … Edward-Waters (1-0) of the SIAC scored a five-set highway upset (15-13 within the tiebreaker) over Erskine (1-1) of Convention Carolinas on Friday behind junior Kaelen Ingram’s 26 kills.
The MIVA’s Purdue Fort Wayne (3-1) break up an East Coast journey, dealing with the NEC’s Sacred Coronary heart in 4 earlier than dropping to New Jersey Institute of Know-how (2-3) of the EIVA in a reverse sweep (15-7 within the tiebreaker) on Saturday. Allesandro Negri ripped 26 kills with three errors on 49 makes an attempt for the host Highlanders, who had outpointed King 75-47 the day earlier than. … D-III Dominican hung robust with host Quincy (1-0) of the MIVA on Friday earlier than falling in three. … On Sunday, unbiased Missouri S&T (1-0) defeated Dominican (0-2) in one other aggressive three-setter. … Convention Carolinas’ Mount Olive (2-0) on Friday swept Roanoke and Randolph-Macon in Ashland, Virginia. … Sixteen gamers for unbiased Maryville (1-0) noticed motion in a sweep of visiting Kentucky State (0-2) of the SIAC.
In matches in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, on Friday and Saturday involving groups from Convention Carolinas, the NEC, the ECC and the SIAC: Barton went 3-0, topping St. Thomas Aquinas (in three), Sacred Coronary heart (in 5) and Fairleigh Dickinson (in 4). Belmont Abbey additionally gained 3 times, beating St. Thomas Aquinas (in three) Sacred Coronary heart (in 5) and FDU (in 5). And St. Thomas Aquinas swept FDU.
Tom Tait dies at 86
Famend as “The Father of Penn State Volleyball,” George Thomas “Tom” Tait has handed at age 86. A member of the inaugural American Volleyball Coaches Corridor of Fame class of 2003, Tait launched and coached the Nittany Lions males’s and girls’s volleyball packages.
He elevated each from membership standing to varsity sports activities, establishing legacy packages which have risen to the very best ranges of collegiate volleyball. He coached the ladies’s workforce from 1976 to ‘78 earlier than handing the reins to a different legendary determine, Russ Rose.
The Nittany Lions girls have gained seven NCAA titles, together with 4 in succession from 2008 to 2011, and they’re the one program to earn a berth in each NCAA Event because it started in 1981. Penn State went 38-0 throughout every of its 2008 and 2009 campaigns and it gained 109 consecutive matches stretching from the 2007 to the 2010 seasons.
Tait coached the boys’s program from its inception in 1977 till 1989 and his groups reached the NCAA match (which then numbered 4 groups) seven occasions. The Nittany Lions males turned the primary non-California workforce to win an NCAA title in 1994 beneath Coach Tom Peterson and claimed a second crown in 2008 beneath Mark Pavlik.
Honored by USA Volleyball as an All-Time Nice Coach in 2007, Tait compiled a profession file of 405-150-5.
On the X social-media web site (previously Twitter) the Penn State males’s and girls’s packages acknowledged Tait’s passing with these phrases: “We’re saddened to listen to of the passing of Tom Tait, who touched the lives of so many right here as a coach, mentor and professor. In these roles, he was a part of the Penn State group spanning 4 many years, together with the primary varsity head coach of each males’s and girls’s volleyball.”