Wednesday, January 5
Riverside
7:00 PM
California Baptist University
3
vs
2
UC Irvine
CANNONS BLAZING
1/6/2011 6:46:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- California Baptist University got its 2011 season started with a bang Wednesday night, defeating NCAA Division I No. 2-ranked UC Irvine in a five set thriller.
After falling behind 2-1 the Lancers came back to win the final two sets and take a 3-2 (26-28, 26-24, 21-25, 25-19, 15-9) victory in both team's regular season opener.
“Tonight was fun because of the way we were able to win,” said Head Coach Ryan McGuyre, who begins his ninth season at the helm for CBU. “This team has a lot of good individual talent, but as we are able to compete together as a team we can really be great. The potential for this team is limitless I believe and that showed tonight.”
The Anteaters had been CBU's season opening nemesis, sweeping the Lancers to start the season the past three years and winning five straight openers overall. It was just CBU's second win against UC Irvine in nine matches and comes on the same day that the NCAA Division I-II poll was released with the Anteaters at No. 2, receiving five first place votes.
“All of the team's at the top of that poll and in the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are very close to each other in terms of talent,” said McGuyre. “Going forward as we transition to the NCAA I think this just shows that we can compete with anyone.”
CBU dropped a close first set and narrowly won the second before the Anteaters won the third game 25-21 to seemingly take control of the match.
The Lancers were far from done, however, and came back to get a decisive 25-19 victory. Micah Sherman came off the bench and gave the Lancers four big kills in the fourth set and freshman Sebastian Steigmeier had five of his 24 kills in the fourth game to lead CBU.
In the fifth set it was the veterans turn, as junior Levi Cabral ripped four of his 23 kills and senior Blair Penner served a key ace early in the set to lead the Lancers to the win.
CBU quickly fell behind 3-1 in the set, but Steigmeier ripped a kill to keep the Anteaters from pulling away. With the match momentum in flux, Penner stepped up and served a rocket that fell in for an ace, tying the set at 3-3. From there CBU would go on a 4-1 run and force the UC Irvine coaching staff to call a timeout.
Out of the timeout Cabral ripped a kill down the middle of the court to keep the momentum in the favor of the home team. Even another UC Irvine timeout couldn't stop the red hot Lancers as they would take a 15-9 victory on a ball smashed off the Anteater block by Cabral.
“This win feels great and gives us some great confidence going forward,” said Penner. “It's especially satisfying for me because each year I have been here we have lost to them. Our team has good chemistry already and a win like this only makes that stronger.”
As a team the Lancers hit progressively better in each game, finishing with a .309 attack percentage, while the Anteaters hit progressively worse in their last four sets finishing at .260.
The Lancers were led offensively by Steigmeier and Cabral who had 24 and 23 kill respectively. Returning NCAA All-American Carson Clarke led UC Irvine with 23 kills of his own.
For the first three sets UC Irvine held a decisive edge on the block, with 12.5 total blocks to only six for the Lancers. CBU was able to narrow that gap, though, getting 5.5 blocks of their own in the final two games.
CBU also out-dug the Anteaters 49-38.
“I thought our middles played well tonight as well,” said McGuyre. “Joseph Fitzpatrick hit .412 and Ricky Brazee hit .385, so I would like to see us get them the ball more often. There are definitely still things we can work on, but overall this is a great start.”
The road doesn't get any easier for the Lancers, as CBU travels to Santa Barbara to play in the UC Santa Barbara tournament. The now 1-0 Lancers open up play at the tournament 10 a.m. Friday morning against (NCAA DI) No. 5 BYU. UC Irvine will also be at the tournament trying to improve from its 0-1 start, along with fellow NCAA powers No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Long Beach State, No. 12 Cal State Northridge, UC San Diego and host No. 10 UC Santa Barbara.
After falling behind 2-1 the Lancers came back to win the final two sets and take a 3-2 (26-28, 26-24, 21-25, 25-19, 15-9) victory in both team's regular season opener.
“Tonight was fun because of the way we were able to win,” said Head Coach Ryan McGuyre, who begins his ninth season at the helm for CBU. “This team has a lot of good individual talent, but as we are able to compete together as a team we can really be great. The potential for this team is limitless I believe and that showed tonight.”
The Anteaters had been CBU's season opening nemesis, sweeping the Lancers to start the season the past three years and winning five straight openers overall. It was just CBU's second win against UC Irvine in nine matches and comes on the same day that the NCAA Division I-II poll was released with the Anteaters at No. 2, receiving five first place votes.
“All of the team's at the top of that poll and in the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are very close to each other in terms of talent,” said McGuyre. “Going forward as we transition to the NCAA I think this just shows that we can compete with anyone.”
CBU dropped a close first set and narrowly won the second before the Anteaters won the third game 25-21 to seemingly take control of the match.
The Lancers were far from done, however, and came back to get a decisive 25-19 victory. Micah Sherman came off the bench and gave the Lancers four big kills in the fourth set and freshman Sebastian Steigmeier had five of his 24 kills in the fourth game to lead CBU.
In the fifth set it was the veterans turn, as junior Levi Cabral ripped four of his 23 kills and senior Blair Penner served a key ace early in the set to lead the Lancers to the win.
CBU quickly fell behind 3-1 in the set, but Steigmeier ripped a kill to keep the Anteaters from pulling away. With the match momentum in flux, Penner stepped up and served a rocket that fell in for an ace, tying the set at 3-3. From there CBU would go on a 4-1 run and force the UC Irvine coaching staff to call a timeout.
Out of the timeout Cabral ripped a kill down the middle of the court to keep the momentum in the favor of the home team. Even another UC Irvine timeout couldn't stop the red hot Lancers as they would take a 15-9 victory on a ball smashed off the Anteater block by Cabral.
“This win feels great and gives us some great confidence going forward,” said Penner. “It's especially satisfying for me because each year I have been here we have lost to them. Our team has good chemistry already and a win like this only makes that stronger.”
As a team the Lancers hit progressively better in each game, finishing with a .309 attack percentage, while the Anteaters hit progressively worse in their last four sets finishing at .260.
The Lancers were led offensively by Steigmeier and Cabral who had 24 and 23 kill respectively. Returning NCAA All-American Carson Clarke led UC Irvine with 23 kills of his own.
For the first three sets UC Irvine held a decisive edge on the block, with 12.5 total blocks to only six for the Lancers. CBU was able to narrow that gap, though, getting 5.5 blocks of their own in the final two games.
CBU also out-dug the Anteaters 49-38.
“I thought our middles played well tonight as well,” said McGuyre. “Joseph Fitzpatrick hit .412 and Ricky Brazee hit .385, so I would like to see us get them the ball more often. There are definitely still things we can work on, but overall this is a great start.”
The road doesn't get any easier for the Lancers, as CBU travels to Santa Barbara to play in the UC Santa Barbara tournament. The now 1-0 Lancers open up play at the tournament 10 a.m. Friday morning against (NCAA DI) No. 5 BYU. UC Irvine will also be at the tournament trying to improve from its 0-1 start, along with fellow NCAA powers No. 9 UCLA, No. 11 Long Beach State, No. 12 Cal State Northridge, UC San Diego and host No. 10 UC Santa Barbara.
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