Grand Canyon righted its ship but Loyola Chicago’s took on some water, while BYU clipped Pepperdine in five sets again during an eventful Saturday of Division-III NCAA men’s volleyball.
Also, Hawaii and Long Beach State took care of business, Ohio State made up ground in the MIVA and Daemen’s suffered its first defeat in NEC play.
One night after being stunned in five by the visiting Eagles, No. 5 Grand Canyon (21-2, 6-2 MPSF) weathered a marathon opening set to sweep Concordia Irvine (7-13, 1-5) in Phoenix 37-35, 25-22, 25-16. The Lopes’ defense brought freshman Gabe Doble, who had torched them with .600 hitting the night before, back to earth. Doble hit .000 with nine errors negating his nine kills on 30 swings.
Consecutive aces by Camden Gianni tallied Grand Canyon’s 36th and 37th points in an epic first set that featured 15 set points. The Lopes then hit .400 and .500 in the second and third. Gianni (11 kids, four service winners), Jackson Hickman (11 kills) and Christian Janke (10 kills) proved balance for Grand Canyon.
In a tense neutral-site slugfest that saw two sets in the 30s, Princeton (10-10) of the EIVA knocked off No. 9 Loyola Chicago (18-4) of the MIVA 28-30, 25-16, 25-23, 31-29 at George Mason. Ben Harrington, a 6-foot-4 junior from the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn, was a huge thorn in Loyola’s side with 18 kills and five aces. Harrington’s final kill and an attacking error by Parker Van Buren put the finishing touches on the Tigers’ victory.
A little more than a week ago, the Ramblers under first-year coach John Hawks seemingly were sitting pretty at 17-2 and riding a 10-match winning streak. Then they suffered their first MIVA loss, at unranked Purdue Fort Wayne, and Saturday absorbed another defeat to an unranked squad. Couple those with an “L” at unranked Concordia Irvine in early February and an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament that once seemed at least within the realm of possibility for Loyola looks far more iffy, meaning it has an imperative to win the MIVA Tournament and collect its automatic NCAA bid.
Princeton held 6-foot-9 sophomore Van Buren, a MIVA Player of the Year contender. relatively in check. Despite 15 kills and two aces, he hit .250, 77 points below his season average, and committed nine service errors.
The second act of the weekend play in Provo, Utah, between No. 8 BYU and No. 7 Pepperdine was even more…
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