California Baptist University
Hope International
SWEET 16
3/30/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- The NAIA's No. 1-ranked and 3-time defending champion California Baptist swept Hope International 30-26, 30-27 30-28 Friday night at the Van Dyne Gym.
The win, California Baptist's second in a row, makes the Lancers 18-9 on the year heading into their final match of the year?a road contest at the NCAA's defending champion and No. 5-ranked UCLA this coming Wednesday. California Baptist also hosts the ninth annual NAIA National Invitational Tournament April 12-14.
Two-time defending NAIA Tournament MVP Shamsu Awudu finished with 16 kills, while Urs Gunthor notched 9 kills and 4 blocks in each of their last home regular-season matches in a Lancer uniform.
“Both our seniors have served as captains and have added great leadership to this team,” said California Baptist head coach Ryan McGuyre. “They're both guys that achieve not only in the court, but off the court and in the classroom. They're both epitomes of who we as a program want as student-athletes.”
The Lancers started out game one with a lackluster performance, as they tallied up 4 first-attempt service errors in the set. California Baptist led by just one point, at 18-17, before Awudu swatted a pair of kills to bookend a modest 3-0 rally, stretching the Lancer lead to 21-17.
Awudu and Yukai Sun each notched 5 kills in the opener, leading the team to the 30-26 victory despite hitting just .267 (15-7-30).
Donald Baliaba rocked 6 kills in a game-2 Lancer win, as California Baptist hit a solid .393 (16-5-28) to pull away thanks to a 6-2 run that made the score 27-23. The Royals showed signs of life after falling down by 4, and won 6 of the next 6 points, but Awudu smacked his ninth kill of the match to make the final score 30-27 in the second set.
Urs Gunthor had knocked a pair of kills in a 5-0 Lancer rally to make the score 14-11 earlier in the set, forcing Hope International to call a timeout. The Royals came back thanks to a Yeshua Goodman kill that helped knot the score at 15-15.
For the second game in a row, the Lancers struggled from behind the end line, with 7 service errors, including 4 on the first attempt.
After racking up 7 kills in the first 2 games combined, Hope International's Alex Figueiredo matched that total with 7 in the final game alone, as the score was even all the way until 28-28. Awudu smashed his 16th and final kill of the night to make the score 29-28, and the Lancers ended it at 30-28 on a block by Sun and Ralph Asmar.
Eric Plunkett ended the night with 32 assists, as Dan Buehring chipped in with 10 dimes of his own.
Awudu was the only hitter in double-digits for the Lancers, who hit .307 on the night and held the Royals to a .218 clip despite a 14-kill night from Figueiredo and 11 kills from Nelson Hernandez.
