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Check out the five things to take away from the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball matches this weekend.
Ohio State stuns Long Beach State at home — All-conference outside attacker Nicholas had a season-high 26 kills, including the match-winning kill, as No. 5/5 Ohio State upset No. 1/1 Long Beach State in five games on Saturday in California. With this non-conference victory, the Buckeyes extend their winning streak to a MIVA-best nine matches and are 3-1 against MPSF teams this season. It also was the program’s first win versus a No. 1 ranked team since 1998 when it upset then-No. 1 Pepperdine.
Pepperdine pulls off comeback upset — No. 9/10 Pepperdine rallied from a two-game road deficit to upset first-place No. 3/3 Stanford in five games on Saturday. Opposite Matt Tarantino in the victory had a match-high 21 kills on a .459 attack percentage, while outside attacker David Wieczorek added 20 kills. In addition, this loss drops Stanford into a tie with No. 4/4 UCLA for third place in the MPSF and a half-match behind first-place No. 2/2 BYU and Long Beach State.
Hawai’i sweeps through CSUN — No. 8/9 Hawai’i ended its five-match losing streak with two road victories against No. 11 CSUN during the weekend. All-American outside attacker Sinisa Zarkovic led the Rainbow Warriors in the two-match series with a combined 32 kills, including a match-high 21 kills in the series-opening four-game win on Friday. These victories also jumped Hawai’i in seventh place in the MPSF and a match ahead of eight-place CSUN..
NJIT remains in postseason contention — Outside attacker Jabarry Goodridge had a combined 30 kills and hit more than .400 in both matches during a series sweep against Charleston this weekend. The Highlanders midway through the EIVA season are now in third place and are attempting to earn their first postseason berth since the conference tournament changed to a four-team format in 2012.
Shakeup to lineup works for Anteaters — No. 14 UC Irvine with Michael Seata moving from setter to opposite defeated No. 13 Lewis in fives games on Saturday. Seata in his new position led the Anteaters with a career-high 24 kills and added five aces in the non-conference victory.