UC Irvine Ends Road Swing At Cal Baptist; USC
March 29, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK
MPSF Matches
No. 14 UC Irvine at Cal Baptist · Wednesday, Mar. 30 · 7:00 p.m. · Van Dyne Gym
Live Stats Video
No. 14 UC Irvine at USC · Sunday, Apr. 3 · 7:00 p.m. · Galen Center
Live Stats TV: Pac-12 Network
QUICK HITS
No. 14 UC Irvine completes the long road trip traveling to Cal Baptist Wednesday (Mar. 30) at 7:00 p.m. then USC Sunday (Apr. 3) at 7:00 p.m.
These two matches end a string of 10 played away from the Bren.
The top seven spots in the MPSF are accounted for as UCI fights for the eighth and final spot. With four matches to play, UCI trails CSUN by a win and is one win ahead of USC and Cal Baptist. The Anteaters will face the Matadors next Thursday at the Bren. CSUN will travel to Stanford and Pepperdine this week.
No. 14 UCI is 8-17 overall and 5-13 in the MPSF
Cal Baptist is 12-14 overall and 4-14. The Lancers are currently getting votes in the AVCA poll.
Last week, the Lancers lost to Stanford (0-3) and beat Holy Names (3-0).
UCI owns a 15-4 series record lead over Cal Baptist.
Cal Baptist beat UCI in the first meeting at the Bren Center 25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19. The Lancers out-hit UC Irvine .312 to .168 and had 14.5 total blocks. Rocky DeLyon led CBU with 14 kills, while Thomas Hodges had a team-high 11 for the Anteaters.
The Trojans lead the series record with UCI, 31-29 (UCI only counts NCAA eligible matches in the series records) with the Anteaters winning the last three outings.
After the previous five meetings with USC had gone to five sets, UCI was able to beat the Trojans, 3-1in the first meeting of 2016 in Irvine. UCI hit a season-high .457 (60-12-105). Kyle Russell and Karl Apfelbach each had 16 kills in the win, whle Tucker Pikula added 12 kills and Jason Agopian had 11. Jon Rivera and Lucas Yoder paced USC with 13 kill apiece.
USC is 6-16 overall and 4-14 in the MPSF. The Trojans will entertain UC San Diego on Saturday before hosting UCI.
The Trojans are coming off a pair of losses at Stanford (3-1) and Pepperdine (0-3).
UCI went 1-4 last week, going five sets the final three matches of the road trip. UCI's lone win was a 3-2 victory over George Mason. The Anteaters played five matches in seven days in four different states.
Over those five matches, Michael Saeta led the team with 3.38 kills and 0.62 aces. He tied his career-best with 24 kills versus George Mason.
Jason Agopian recorded a career-high 16 kills versus Ball State, while Thomas Hodges had a career-high 17 kills in the first match with Hawaii and David Parker posted a career-high 18 digs against George Mason. In the second match against Hawaii, Dante Chakravorti posted a career-high 68 set assists and Dillon Hoffman had a career-high 19 digs.
