California Baptist University
UC Santa Barbara
SWEEPING THE HOUSE
3/27/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
The win was the Lancers' third of the year in 12 matches against top-15 NCAA programs, as they avenge a March 14 loss to the Gauchos in
Meanwhile, UC Santa Barbara drops to 15-10 with the loss.
Sun tied a career high in kills, and also hit .739 (18-1-23) in the victory, as 2-time defending NAIA National Invitational Tournament MVP Shamsu Awudu and Donald Baliaba posted 14 and 15 kills, respectively.
“If Yukai plays like this every night, we're going to be really tough to beat in the tournament,” said California Baptist head coach Ryan McGuyre. “The teams are going to want to key in on Shamsu or Donald, and that frees up Yukai to shine, like he did tonight.”
“Our passing and our hitting in both the front and back row was solid all night, and we had solid blocking throughout,” said McGuyre.
California Baptist, which hosts the ninth annual NAIA National Invitational April 12-14, hit .427 as a team, including a .654 (19-2-26) mark in the second game. The Lancers also out-blocked the Gauchos 12-2, as Romain Vetter and Awudu each finished with 5 stuffs.
A pair of Gauchos points forced the Lancers to call a timeout at 22-22 in the first game, but Eric Plunkett, Vetter and Baliaba combined for a block to temporarily take the lead at 23-22. The Lancers pulled ahead for good on a Sun kill at 27-26, and out-blocked UC Santa Barbara 4.5 to 0 in the game.
The Lancers claimed the lead for good much earlier in the second game, as a Gauchos service error made the score 7-5. Gunthor roped a kill at 19-14, and the Lancers withstood a late rally to garner their second 30-27 win of the evening.
“Clement came up with some key plays tonight, particularly throughout the first and second games,” said McGuyre.
UC Santa Barbara led, 23-20, on Evan Patak's kill, but the Lancers rebounded thanks to a pair of Gauchos errors that kick started a 5-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Baliaba kills to make the score 25-23 in favor of California Baptist.
“CBU is a fun place to play, particularly when we have the (pep) band out here,” said McGuyre. “The band, mixing with a very smart volleyball crowd, is really fun to play for. I think it says a lot about the character of the players on this team that attracts fans out here, and I'm proud of that.”
