California Baptist University
Lewis (Ill.)
LANCERS GROUND FLYERS
3/9/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
With the score tied at a game apiece, Sun smashed 8 kills in a pivotal game-3 victory that keyed a, 30-21, 25-30, 30-26, 30-19, victory over the Flyers. The Lancers host NCAA No. 11-ranked Loyola-Chicago tomorrow night.
Sun, who had posted 17 and 13 kills, respectively, in the previous 2 matches, finished with a game-high 17 kills tonight, as Urs Gunthor backed him up with 13 kills and 4 blocks. The win is California Baptist's third in a row and 6 in the past 7 matches.
The Lancers used a 4-0 rally, fueled by a back-to-back hitting errors from Jared Dayton that game the Lancers an early 10-4 lead in game one. Gunthor knocked 2 of his 7 game-one kills?on just 10 swings?consecutively, as California Baptist widened the lead to 26-20.
Ralph Asmar would later rip a kill and an ace to make the score 28-21, and the Lancers ended the set on a 4-0 run that included a pair of hitting miscues for the Flyers, who hit just .062 (12-10-32) in the opener.
Following an opening set where they hit .480 (16-4-25), the Lancers were held to an anemic .000 (11-11-30), thanks to 8 Lewis team blocks in game 2. Billy Sahagian and Drew Pickering each posted a trio of blocks in the set, as Alex Vigansky stuffed 4 California Baptist attempts, as Lewis held on for the, 30-25, win.
California Baptist responded midway through the third game, picking up some slack on a 6-point spree that made the score 17-11. The score had been tied, 11-11, but Yukai Sun sent home 2 kills in a row to kick-start the rally. Romain Vetter served back-to-back aces to end the rally and give the Lancers a 6-point advantage.
The Flyers hung around late in the game, as Pickering and Sahagian teamed up for a block that was part of a last-minute 4-0 rally that cut CBU's lead to just 2, at 28-26. Ralph Asmar's kill made the score 29-26, and David Mendoza paired up with Vetter for a game-ending block at 20-26.
Clement Caylar blasted a service ace to force a Flyers timeout and make the CBU lead 15-10, and he followed up with a kill to stretch the advantage to 16-10. The Lancers hit .323 (14-4-31), while holding Lewis to a -.125 (8-12-32) hitting percentage in the finale.
Eric Plunkett finished with 46 assists and 6 digs, while Vetter ended with 8 blocks on the night.
