35 games on the packed Friday night schedule this evening as many teams start their season this weekend. We will focus on just some of the games from the monster schedule.
More than a few surprises tonight so let’s jump right in… the Kean Cougars pushed Wentworth to the brink taking sets 2 and 3 after losing the first set 26-24. The Leopards won set 4 and outlasted the Cougars in set 5, 15-10, for the victory. Connor Foxwell led Wentworth with 17 kills and 6 blocks. Josh Milke and Brayden Green combined for 53 assists while Andrew Ahn added 14 kills and 11 digs. Chris Mitchell had 21 kills for the Cougars on a whopping 49 attempts.
Concordia Irvine dropped Springfield in three close sets. However, Chris Rouleau was just outstanding for the Pride knocking in 10 kills with no hitting errors and hitting .714.
First year team Westminster of Missouri stayed hot and improved to 4-1 with a 4-set win over North Park. Jake Schawo-McAlister had 40 assists and equally distributed the attack over 5 players. Luke Rohrback and Dalio Taouil each had 10 kills while Aidan Ortmann, Connor Layman, and Derrick Turner added 9, 8, and 7 kills respectively. Ryan Rhodes lifted 20 digs over 4 sets on the back row. Westminster’s success has been one of the nice surprises this season.
Messiah upended Mount Union in an exciting 5-set battle. The Purple Raiders answered twice, winning sets 2 and 4, but the Falcons prevailed in set five 15-12. Messiah threw 147 attack attempts at Mount Union with Alex Kagoro connecting on 30 of his 56 sets. Brandon Sharp had 56 assists for the winners.
Koby Sherman and Ryan Schmid each had 8 kills as Stevens knocks off Nichols in straight sets in their first match of the season. Tyler Hoke and Carver Weirick added 7 kills each. Tanner Soracco and Jack Normandin combined for 29 kills for the Bison who drop to 0-1.
Baldwin Wallace defeated Randolph-Macon in four sets (27-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-14), pulling away decisively in the final set after two tightly contested opening frames. Ted Hofmeister led Baldwin Wallace with 14 kills on .379 hitting and added 12 digs while Daniel Latham contributed 11 kills hitting .391 with 4 block assists. Carson Junker orchestrated the BW offense with 32 assists. For Randolph-Macon, Ian Wagenhauser posted a match-high 18 kills and 4 service aces, though struggled with 11 hitting errors. Phillip Van Essendelft added 10 kills on .381 hitting and Kody Rogan distributed 38 assists and contributed 9 digs. The match turned in the third set when Baldwin Wallace found their rhythm, culminating in a dominant fourth set performance where they held Randolph-Macon to just 14 points to secure the victory.
Freshman Keaton Hendry had a 44-assist performance driving Cal Lutheran to a 3-1 match victory over home team UC Santa Cruz. Jordan Cooper, Ben Weber, and Michael Stahl drove the attack with 16, 15, and 19 kills respectively. Dylan Foreman had 21 kills for the Banana Slugs and Riley Norman added 14. The Kingsmen improved to 3-1 while the Slugs dropped back to 4-2 on the young season. Marcus Donchuanchom who has been acrobatic at libero so far this season for UCSC had 15 digs in a losing cause. Braden Gonzales had 13 digs for the winners.
Lasell swept Rutgers in straight sets (25-22, 25-21, 26-24) in a competitive match where each set was closely contested. Theo Zaharewicz led Lasell with an outstanding performance of 16 kills on .538 hitting. Benjamin Walinjom added 9 kills and 3 blocks for the Lasers. For Rutgers, Aidan Apito led with 11 kills and Derek Au distributed 32 assists for the Scarlet Raiders. Lasell’s offense was more efficient, led by Zaharewicz’s high hitting percentage. Both teams struggled with service errors, combining for 20 in the match. Trystan Maloney had an excellent setting performance for Lasell with 32 assists. Despite the straight-set victory, each set was competitive with Rutgers pushing Lasell to the limit. The closest set was the third, with Lasell barely edging out a 26-24 victory.
