No. 14 UC Irvine Upended By Cal Baptist
March 30, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
Riverside, Calif. – Cal Baptist upended UC Irvine, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-23) to sweep the season series at Van Dyne Gym Wednesday.
UCI hit .147 (29-18-75) to Cal Baptist's .312 (38-13-80). The Lancers out-blocked UCI, 8.5-6.0.
UC Irvine (8-18, 5-14) was led by Michael Saeta with eight kills and three aces. Marty Ross added six kills followed by Thomas Hodges with five kills. Dante Chakravorti totaled 24 set assists, while Dillon Hoffman had 10 digs.
Cal Baptist (13-14, 5-14) was led by Roy Powell's 12 kills, three aces, seven digs and five block assists. Rocky DeLyon and Enrique Garcia each had nine kills in the win.
A Saeta ace started a 5-0 run which included three Lancer attack errors and a kill by Jason Agopian to put the Anteaters in front 9-4 in the first set. UCI maintained a 16-11 lead before Cal Baptist went on an 8-1 run to move in front 18-17. The Lancers fourth ace gave Cal Baptist set point, 24-21. Back-to-back UCI blocks narrowed the margin to 24-23, but a service error would give Cal Baptist the 25-23 victory. The Anteaters hit a dismal .050 (7-6-20).
Cal Baptist would jump out to a 10-6 lead in the second set. UCI would score three straight on a Lancer service error, a block by Saeta and a kill by Marty Ross to close within 14-13, but an attack error followed stopping the momentum. A kill and ace by Saeta gave UCI a 17-16 lead, but the Lancers would score the next two, 18-17 and go on to win 25-22.
The Anteaters would hold a 12-7 lead in the third set, but the Lancers would score the next four points to cut the deficit to 12-11 forcing UCI to call a time out. Tucker Pikula would have a kill and an ace out of the timeout to open a 14-11 advantage. Cal Baptist would catch UCI at 15-15. A CBU service error was followed by a Saeta ace, 17-15. UCI led 22-21 only to watch Cal Baptist to regain the 23-22 advantage. A Lancer attack error tied the set 23-23, but Cal Baptist scored the final two points on UCI attack errors to clinch the match, 25-23.
UCI will travel to USC Sunday for a 7:00 p.m. match at the Galen Center.
