University of California, Merced – Men’s Volleyball Sweeps Park University Gilbert

MESA, Ariz. – The University of California, Merced men’s volleyball team pounded out 41 kills in a sweep over Park University Gilbert, winning 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23) on Sunday afternoon on the third leg of a three-match road trip.

The Bobcats (7-8, 4-2) sweep was their fourth of the year and the 41 kills tied the squad’s three-set season high.

Chris Morikawa paced the Bobcats with a season-best 17 kills on a .394 hitting percentage. Morikawa, who neared his three-set career-high in kills and had eight of his 17 total kills in the final frame, also tallied five digs and a service ace.

Ryan Kilgore smacked nine kills and joined Morikawa in the service ace column.

Toby Miller tallied a three-set career-high 34 assists and quarterbacked eight different Bobcats to multiple kills. The sophomore also had six digs, two blocks, and two kills.

Max Niederberger notched three blocks in just the final set. The freshman has at least three blocks in each of his last two appearances and in four of his last five games.

Brennan Taylor and Lincoln Smith recorded two blocks each. Kaikoa Soma and Jared Guglielmana were credited with seven and five digs, respectively.

UC Merced showed their toughness throughout the day and won each frame with a final push down the stretch.

Trailing 19-17 in the first set, Morikawa sparked a Bobcats 4-0 run to take the lead and head coach Ai Prachumri’s team kept it the rest of the way. Up 24-22 soon after, Jozef Lingenfelter delivered set point with one of his three kills on the day.

The Bobcats put together another 4-0 run late in the second set, this time breaking a 17-17 tie to jump ahead 21-17. Smith highlighted the run with a block and a kill. However, Park followed with a run of their own to take the lead but then went on to commit three straight errors and the Bobcats would ultimately win the frame 25-23.

The Bobcats trailed for the majority of the third set but never by more than three points. The last three-point deficit was 20-17 right before Prachumsri called a timeout. Prachumsri’s timeout was perfect as the Bobcats answered with five straight points to grab their first lead of the frame. Three different Bobcats had a kill in the surge, including CJ Blankenship‘s kill that officially put the Bobcats on top 21-20. A little later tied 23-23, Morikawa tallied his 17th and final kill to set up match point. Smith and Niederberger secured match point and put an exclamation point on the sweep…