January 26, 2024
Friday Night Lights for the Men’s D3 Volleyball season hits week three. Lots of great matchups tonight that will again give us some details and insights on where the rankings will stand when the weekend is over. Let’s see what happened tonight…
What a super job by Diego Pena of Marymount tonight. The Saints hosted MIT and they certainly did not roll out any red carpets as they spanked the Engineers in straight sets. Pena whacked 12 kills and had just one attack error, hitting .423 with 12 digs, an ace, and a block in the sweep. Joe Crowder had 31 assists and 7 digs, while both Luke Pugue (.636) and Will Wright had 9 kills. Marymount improves to 4-0. MIT absorbed their third straight loss. Devon Robinson was the hero in Marymount’s nightcap as they turn back Spencer Herman and Concordia Wisconsin in 4 sets. Robinson throttled 19 kills and 3 aces to power the Saints to a 5-0 start to the season.
Superb job by Reese Ganter tonight as Juniata pulls off the reverse sweep and comes back on Messiah. Ganter pops 49 assists, 3 aces, 5 digs, a block and an ace and Tyler Goldsborough rapped 16 kills on the attack and provided 10 digs on defense. Juniata returned to a winning record at 3-2 after a rocky first week.
Hobart picked up their fifth straight win with a sweep of Thiel. Andrew Kim had a sensational night drilling 15 kills without an attack error. Dan Sapia and Grayson Getz also fueled the fire, Dan with 11 kills, and Grayson with 7 while hitting .778. Zach Farren posted 32 assists for the winners. Thiel struggled against the Hobart defense, hitting -.000 for the match.
Elmira slid past both Drew and SUNY Potsdam in straight sets to improve to 3-1. Dylan Vargas and Edwin Sosa combined for 24 kills and Max Cohen tallied 31 assists in a sweep of Drew. Edwin Sosa was spectacular in the second match against Potsdam cracking 17 kills, hitting .462, and adding 2 blocks.
David Ward and Walter Spurlock sparked the Eastern Mennonite attack as the Royals turned back NAIA St. Andrews in straight sets. Ward put down 7 blocks in the win. EMU is now 4-2.
Randolph Macon and Illinois Tech matched up quite evenly tonight, but the Yellow Jackets edged the Cardinals in 4 very tight sets. Cade Terrell and Kody Rogan combine for 33 assists, and 17 digs, while Rogan adds 4 blocks and 9 kills. Owen Hahn was a monster at the net with 8 blocks. Alec Donald led IIT with 15 digs on the back row.
Vicente Cabrera and Ty Ingrao were at the top of their game tonight as North Park turned back Rockford 3-0. Ingroa crunched 11 kills and hit .476 while Cabrera hammered 9 kills and hit .368. Sam Robinson added 5 blocks in addition to 7 kills for North Park.
SVU rolled to another sweep improving to 6-0 as they defeated IIT. The Sheaffer brothers took control of the match early and had very clean performances, Tyler popped 33 assists and Christian had 18 kills. The Knights have still not lost a set this season.
Valley Forge with a big win over St. Elizabeth on their opening night as they take down the Eagles in straight sets. Both Tyler Younger and Jovan Nieves had 6 kills and 10 digs each. Toby Harris had 8 kills and Nathan Whisman hit .625 with 6 kills to lead the VF attack. Paul Brown spread 23 assists for the winners. Valley Forge’s defense forced Saint E’s to hit negative overall on the night.
Cal Lutheran continued its superlative season with another top-flight win, this time on the road at North Central. It took 5 sets and the Kingsmen showed a ton of resilience after losing the first and third sets. Taylor Marks with another 50+ assist night, adding 5 kills, 10 digs, and 4 blocks to his nightly CV. Mike Stahl hit .442 and registered 21 kills for the match. Jordan Cooper and Ben Weber were big contributors on the attack as well. Central had some great production from their key attackers with Jared Moser, Austin Scott, and Luke Schmidt having strong offensive performances but it wasn’t enough to tilt the scale in the favor of the Cardinals.
After much deliberation, InsideHitter.com awards their Player of the Night to Taylor Marks of Cal Lutheran. The Kingsmen remain undefeated at D3 and are having a knockout season thus far, thanks to the play of their amazing setter. Congrats Taylor!!
IH