California Baptist University
UC San Diego
GOOD, VETTER, BEST
2/20/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Last Tuesday night, the NAIA's 3-time defending champion and No. 1-ranked California Baptist posted an historic win over the NCAA's No. 1-ranked Brigham Young. The Lancers swept UC Santa Cruz Friday night, and they went 4-games to pick up a, 30-21, 28-30, 35-33, 30-24, victory over NCAA Div. II UC San Diego tonight.
Shamsu Awudu, the NAIA's 2-time defending Tournament MVP and all-time CBU kills leader with 1,372 kills, ripped 27 pointers on 42 swings for a .524 (27-5-42) hitting percentage, as the Lancers overcame a game-2 loss. Romain Vetter's 9 blocks were a team-high.
CBU narrowly staved off a game-3 defeat as well, but the Lancers blocked their way out of trouble, hanging on for the crucial victory.
“I liked the character we showed in game 3,” said California Baptist head coach Ryan McGuyre. “We were down and we weren't playing well all the way since the first game, but we found it at the end. It was an ugly win, but it was still a win. We wrestled through it in that game, which is important because you never know about those fifth games.”
A kill from Urs Gunthor made the score 20-17 and got the Lancers going for a final game-one push, as CBU pulled away to a 24-18 advantage. The Lancers benefited from 2 of the Tritons' 9 first-game hitting errors in the 4-1 rally, and continued to control the pace of the game, including a 3-0 run to conclude the set at 30-21.
Awudu got started with 8 first-set kills on just 11 errorless swings to lead the team to a .440 (15-4-25) hitting percentage. The Lancers also held UC San Diego to an anemic .114 (13-9-35) clip in game one.
Brooks Dierdorff stuffed the Lancers 5 times in the second set, as the Tritons stymied CBU for 6 blocks, leading to 11 Lancer hitting errors in game 2. UC San Diego rocked 16 kills and a .387 (16-4-31) hitting percentage in the set.
CBU had led, 25-22, in the set, but the Tritons pulled ahead, winning 4 of the next 5 points to tie the score at 26-26. The Lancers then picked up a 28-27 advantage, but the Tritons again came back and Frank Fritsch, who had 6 kills in the set, ripped a pair of consecutive kills to end the game at 30-28.
Game 3 didn't look promising either, with CBU's back to the wall at 3 game points. However, backed into a 33-32 hole, the Lancers capitalized on a pair of UC San Diego errors and polished off the game at 35-33 on a 3-way block from Yukai Sun, Bryan Anders and Eric Plunkett.
The Lancers jumped out to a 6-2 lead on Baliaba's kill in game 3 and kept the momentum alive, hitting .379 (17-6-29) en route to the win as Awudu smashed 8 kills in the final set. The Tritons were held to a .107 (11-8-28) clip in the final game as CBU cruised to a 30-24 win.
Plunkett notched 59 assists in the win.
