| No. 5 UC Irvine 3, No. 4 UC San Diego 0 |
Box score | UC Irvine presser | UC San Diego presser
HONOLULU - In Thursday night’s opening match of the 2022 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, UC Irvine swept UC San Diego inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-23, 25-20 and 30-28.
Fourteenth-ranked and fifth-seeded UC Irvine, which was entering the postseason off back-to-back losses, improves to 11-15. No. 9 UC San Diego, the fourth seed and 2021 Big West Championship runner-up at the same venue, saw its 2022 campaign conclude at 13-11.
The Tritons had swept the regular-season series with the Anteaters in late March, but UC Irvine has now taken all three Big West tournament meetings, all first-round straight-setters with prior ones in 2018 and 2019. The ‘Eaters are an even 3-3 all-time in tourney play, while the Tritons are 2-4.
UC Irvine advances to face third-ranked and top-seeded Big West regular-season champion Long Beach State (19-4) in Friday night’s first semifinal.
The first set was tied six times before UC Irvine took its first lead at 17-16 on a kill by All-Big West First Team selection Francesco Sani. Alexandre Nsakanda’s ace forced the Tritons into their second and final timeout. The ‘Eaters got a Cole Gillis kill coming out of that break for 19-16, but UC San Diego caught back up at 21-21. After an eighth tie at 22-22, a combination block by Hilir Henno and Aiden Wolf-Nielsen brought UCI to set point. Henno’s kill on a second set point gave the Anteaters the initial frame.
It marked the first time that UC Irvine grabbed the first set in the three meetings between the teams this season, and first time the ‘Eaters held a set lead over the Tritons all year.
The second set was knotted on every point through 7-7, before kills by Gillis, Henno and Sani gave UCI the first multi-point lead by either side. The lead grew to six at 17-11 when UC San Diego called its last timeout, and was never fewer than three at 23-20, before back-to-back Sani kills made it 2-0. Sani had a match-high 13 kills at that point.
After UC Irvine notched the first point in the third, UC San Diego tallied the next two and maintained a slight edge all the way until 20-20 as the ‘Eaters leveled matters on a triple block by Henno, Connor Dahm and Brian Garcia, followed by a second straight hitting error by Ryan Ka. The set was also tied at 21-21, 22-22 and 23-23, when Dahm’s ace had the Tritons facing match point and calling their second timeout.
UC San Diego saved two match points before All-Big West first-teamer Kyle McCauley served his third ace of the contest to give his side a set point and UCI took its first timeout. After the ‘Eaters staved off a pair of set points, they went back on the ascendancy, and finally converted on their fourth match point as Henno, Nsakanda and Sani teamed up to deny McCauley at the net with UCI’s second triple block of the frame.
Sani led all players with his 19 kills, hitting a career-best .581 (19-1-31) on the night, to go along with six digs and two block assists. Gillis and Henno backed him up with nine kills apiece. Garcia dished out 36 assists and set the ‘Eaters to a .405 (44-10-84) hitting percentage.
McCauley wound up with 13 kills, seven digs and a match-high three aces. He had three kills and an ace over the final eight Triton points of the contest. Fellow senior Wyatt Harrison, back in his home state as a product of Kilauea on the island of Kaua’i, finished with seven kills with a single error on 15 swings (.400), and a team-best three blocks.
First serve for Friday’s semifinal matchup between Long Beach State and UC Irvine is slated for 4:30 p.m. HT/7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN+. The teams split their regular-season set in mid-March, with the ‘Eaters taking a five-set decision in Irvine, and the Beach then sweeping at home.
| No. 3 UC Santa Barbara 3, No. 6 CSUN 0 |
Box score |
UCSB presser |
CSUN presser
HONOLULU - Defending champion UC Santa Barbara cruised in the first set and rallied late in the next two to sweep CSUN Thursday in the first round of the 2022 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-19, 26-24 and 26-24.
Sixth-ranked and third-seeded UC Santa Barbara won its third in a row to improve to 19-8. CSUN, the sixth seed, wrapped up its 2022 season at 6-16. The Gauchos had also posted a pair of straight-set victories over the Matadors during the regular season in mid-March.
UC Santa Barbara advances to face fourth-ranked and second-seeded host Hawai’i (22-5), the defending national champion, in Friday night’s late semifinal.
UC Santa Barbara tallied the first three points of the opening frame and never looked back, gradually building its lead throughout. The Gauchos were up 18-10 when they forced CSUN’s second timeout, and ultimately by as many as 10 at 24-14 before finally converting on a sixth set point through a Haotian Xia kill. UCSB hit .481 (14-1-27) as a team.
The first two points of the second set again went to the Gauchos, but the Matadors took their first lead of the night at 4-3. Three straight CSUN points, with a kill and an ace by Lorenzo Bertozzi preceding a UCSB attack error, later broke an 11-11 tie. A fourth three-point mini-run increased the Matador advantage to 18-13 on a combination stuff by Olumide Allen and Kyle Hobus. The Gauchos made a late run, scoring four straight around CSUN’s first timeout to close to within just one at 20-19 on a Xia kill.
A Daniel Wetter kill was followed by three more UCSB points on two Dayne Chalmers kills around a Xia ace. With the lead changed for a fourth time in the frame and the Gauchos back on top at 22-21, the Matadors were forced to use their second timeout. Brandon Hicks’ kill coming out of the break made it a second 4-0 stretch for UC Santa Barbara. Though CSUN tied the score a seventh time at 24-24, UCSB cashed in a third set point to take the commanding 2-0 lead. Two-time reigning Big West Coach of the Year Rick McLaughlin expertly used a serving substitution following another Hicks kill, taking him out for Sam Collins, who promptly came up with the decisive ace down the left side.
CSUN did not trail throughout the first half of the third set, leading for the most part with five tie scores before a Bertozzi kill gave it a 15-14 edge at the media timeout. UC Santa Barbara eventually took its first lead at 18-17, and was up by a pair at 22-20, 23-21 and 24-22 before the Matadors staved off two match points through Gaucho miscues to level it at 24-24. Junior outside hitter Ryan Wilcox, whose previous attack had just landed narrowly wide, immediately made up for the error with a kill that gave UCSB a third match point.
For the second time, McLaughlin sent Collins on for Hicks, and for the second time, the sophomore came through with an ace, as his tough serve immediately put the Matadors out of system, with their bump attempt landing off of the court.
Xia finished with a match-high 14 kills to go along with five digs, four blocks (one solo) and two aces. Wilcox, the 2021 Big West Championship Most Valuable Player and a Honolulu native out of Punahou School, added 10 kills, as did Chalmers. Setter Patrick Paragas contributed 36 assists and seven digs.
Hobus collected 12 kills for CSUN, with fellow All-Big West First Team selection Wetter coming up with eight. Griffin Walters put down nine kills without an error on 16 swings (.562), to go with seven digs.
UCSB and CSUN had split two previous Big West Championship meetings, both in the first round, in 2018 and 2019. The Gauchos have a 4-2 all-time mark in the event, with the Matadors now 1-4.
First serve for Friday night’s semifinal showdown between Hawai’i and UC Santa Barbara is slated for 7 p.m. HT/10 p.m. PT on ESPN+. The Rainbow Warriors are a perfect 16-0 at SimpliFi Arena this season, including two victories over the Gauchos two weeks ago, 3-0 and 3-2.