Fourth-ranked UCLA rewarded past greats among a crowd of nearly 5,000 at venerable Pauley Pavilion with a sweep of its weekend series with No. 11 USC, and 13th-ranked Loyola Chicago bolstered its relevance in the MIVA race by upsetting No. 7 Ohio State to highlight NCAA men’s Division I-II volleyball on Saturday.
In the Professional Volleyball Federation, a five-point run by serving specialist Kacie Evans was instrumental in swinging the momentum during a highly competitive three-set road victory by the Atlanta Vibe over the San Diego Mojo. Recaps will follow this look at Sunday’s light indoor schedule.
The headliner among the collegiate men is No. 8 Stanford (8-7, 1-2 MPSF) at No. 1 Grand Canyon (14-0, 5-0) in the second installment of a weekend series. No. 5 UC Irvine (11-4, 1-0) welcomes No. 18 UC San Diego (7-9, 1-1) in a Big West tussle. The NEC’s Sacred Heart (6-10) visits No. 3 Hawaii (13-1) of the Big West. And in the MIVA, league leader Ball State (13-7, 6-1, ranked 12th, plays host to Queen’s (6-12, 2-7).
The Columbus Fury (3-2) will carry a three-match winning streak into its PVF encounter with the host Orlando Valkyries (4-4). Outside hitter Megan Courtney Lush, who sat out the Fury’s road victory on Monday over the Vegas Thrill, is listed among the probable starters.
The PVF also has two matches on Monday: The Vibe visit the Vegas Thrill (3-5) and the Mojo play host to the Grand Rapids Rise (3-3).
NCAA men
With 4,727 in attendance at historic Pauley – including members of the Bruins’ NCAA championship teams of 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984 – UCLA (14-4, 5-1) took its eighth consecutive victory over USC (10-8, 2-4) 26-24, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21. After a sweep at the Trojans’ Galen Center on Thursday night, the Bruins pleased their partisan Saturday throng by recording a 58-39 advantage in kills, outdigging USC 30-19 and outhitting their crosstown rival .382-.202. All-American middle blocker Merrick McHenry dialed up three three aces and was a flawless 7-for-7 on attacks in his 15th consecutive match hitting better than .400.
UCLA’s Zach Rama ripped 16 kills with four errors on 25 swings (.480) and Grant Sloane chipped in 13 kills and two aces. Riley Haine was the only Trojan in double-figure kills with 11.
Loyola Chicago got back-to-back kills from freshman outside hitter Daniel Fabikovic to put…
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