Quick hits: 5 things to take away from this weekend’s matches

It was another chaotic weekend in college men’s volleyball. So much that it’s getting to the point that it’s more of a shock when massive upsets don’t happen during a weekend.

Check out the top five things to take away from this weekend’s action.

1. No. 1 and No. 2 go down again — Both No. 1 UC Irvine and No. 2 Stanford lost two matches this week — the first time in recent history that the top two nationally ranked teams lost multiple matches in the same week. With these losses, it opens the door for No. 3 BYU or No. 4 Pepperdine to move to the top of the newest national coaches poll and media poll.

2. Pacific shocks USC — Pacific held USC to a season-low .180 attack percentage as the Tigers defeated the Trojans in four games Sunday. This victory snapped Pacific’s 13-match losing streak against USC dating back to January 2007.

3. Sander’s big weekend puts BYU in first place — A day after All-American outside attacker Taylor Sander had a team-high 16 kills to help BYU beat No. 1 UC Irvine, the junior broke another school record. Sander in a victory against UC San Diego on Saturday had two aces and set the school record for career aces during the rally scoring era.

4. MIVA dominates EIVA — No. 6 Penn State defeated No. 10 Lewis in the signature non-conference match during the weekend, but the MIVA finished with the overall better record against the EIVA. MIVA teams went a combined 7-2 against the EIVA this weekend.

5. Pepperdine’s offense continues to roll — No. 4 Pepperdine had a .386 attack percentage as it defeated No. 2 Stanford in four games Sunday to extend its winning streak to three matches. That has been the Waves’ lowest attack percentage during their winning streak. Pepperdine leads the MPSF this season with a .369 attack percentage.

BONUS HITS
Springfield upsets Cal Baptist — The defending NCAA Division III champions Springfield swept Cal Baptist on Saturday — three days after Cal Baptist upset the defending NCAA Division I champions UC Irvine.

Ball State off to good start — Ball State defeated NJIT and Sacred Heart this weekend to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2006. The Cardinals are one of five undefeated teams remaining from auto-bid conferences.

Mount Olive remains perfect — Mount Olive swept Erskine on Saturday and is not only undefeated but is yet to lose game in its four matches this season.