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Check out the five things to take away from the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball matches this weekend.
BYU at home just too much — No. 3/3 BYU playing without two starters swept both matches of its home weekend series against No. 4/4 Hawai’i. Freshman Miki Jauhiainen starting for injured middle attacker Price Jarman had a match-high eight kills in the series final on Saturday. In addition, opposite Tim Dobbert continuing to start in place of injured All-American opposite Ben Patch had a combined 18 kills in the two wins. With these two victories, BYU extends its winning streak to 13 matches and moves with a match of first-place No. 1/2 Long Beach State.
Ohio State survives comeback bid — Despite blowing a two-game lead and having to fight off a match-point, No. 2/1 Ohio State defeated No. 7/7 Lewis in a fifth-game overtime on Saturday. All-American outside attacker Nicolas Szerszen had both a team-high 18 kills and 11 digs to help keep the Buckeyes undefeated in conference play. This victory also was the 1,000 career match for Ohio State coach Pete Hanson.
NJIT moves closer to playoffs — NJIT swept a two-match road series against Charleston during the weekend to move into a tie for third place in the EIVA and a half-match behind first-place No. 13 Penn State. With five remaining EIVA matches, NJIT is on a six-match winning streak and attempting to earn its first postseason berth since the EIVA Tournament changed to a four-team format in 2012.
Long Beach State keeps rolling — All-American setter Josh Tuaniga guided the offense to a .425 attack percentage as No. 1/2 Long Beach State swept No. 14 CSUN to remain in sole possession of first place in the MPSF. This was the ninth time that the 49ers hit more than .400 in a conference play. CSUN outside attacker Dimitar Kalchev in the loss had two aces to set school’s single-season record with 59 aces.
Logjam remains for first in ConfCarolinas — Mount Olive, King and Barton all won their conference matches this weekend to remain within one match of each other atop the Conference Carolinas standings. In addition, King extended its winning streak to 11 matches — the third longest winning streak in the nation.