California Baptist University
University of the Pacific
.400 Club
1/24/2014 5:13:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- With four matches in a span of six days, California Baptist University came out Thursday night ready to set the tone for the long stretch. The Lancers walked away with a four-set victory (25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-15) over the University of Pacific, overcoming a rocky second set.
"Four matches in six days can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing," said head coach Wes Schneider. "It allows good rhythm to build and grow when you're doing well, but it's also a lot of volleyball to play. I think winning tonight gives us good momentum and energy into this stretch of games."
With their second-straight home win, the Lancers improve to 2-4 on the season and 2-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Tigers fall to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
Three Lancers finished the night with an attack percentage over .400, led by Rocky DeLyon's .476 attacking effort on a team-high 14 kills. Kristopher Johnson continued his offensive prowess, ending the night with 10 kills off .471 hitting. Amir Lugo-Rodriguez came close to double-figure kills, laying down nine with a .412 attack clip.
"I think [three of us hitting above .400] is a by-product of some things we've been working on," said Schneider. "We need to click more consistently, though. I think now the guys have seen what positive results can come, we just need to repeat it more frequently."
Jonathan Tuttle also finished with 14 kills and led CBU with three aces. Off the net, CBU out-blocked the Tigers, picking up 7.5 total blocks as Lugo-Rodriguez accounted for 2.5 of them, including a solo effort.
Pacific opened the first set with four-straight points before the Lancers knew what had hit them. With the wakeup call, CBU battled back within two points at 7-5 as Johnson set up a solo wall to deny the Tigers' attempt.
The Tigers stayed in front, but Johnson scored his third consecutive point to tie the game at 8. CBU took its first lead the next play off an attack error from the visitors and continued on to jump in front, 12-9, forcing a Pacific timeout.
Coming out of the short break, the Tigers grabbed a point, but it sparked a Lancer attack as they finished six-straight points to hold a five-point margin at 18-13.
With his team leading 22-18, DeLyon hammered down a kill and stepped up to serve. The Tigers mishit an attack to put the game within set point, but managed to stay alive with back-to-back points. They couldn't keep the momentum going, however, conceding a blocking error to end the set, 25-20.
Each team exchanged serving opportunities for the first four points before either team could put a run together in the second set.
The Tigers built up a 10-7 lead, but the Lancers brought the score within one, 12-11, after crucial defensive play from Brett Anderson and Joel Blocksom. Lugo-Rodriguez and Tuttle followed with a block to tie the score at 12.
CBU couldn't keep the momentum building to take over control of the game and found itself trailing by three once more at 22-19. Pacific powered through the remaining points to take the second set 25-21, tying the match at 1-1.
"We were too caught up in nervous energy in the second, almost like we were trying not to lose, and I hate saying that," said Schneider.
Feeling energized, Pacific came out firing in the third to take an early 4-1 lead, but the home squad was not willing to roll over.
The Lancers put the score within one, 7-6, after Johnson laid down a kill and then evened the set at 7 on the next play. Trying to keep CBU at bay, the Tigers responded with a point, but DeLyon put down back-to-back kills to put the Lancers in front.
Both teams battled to take control of the set, with neither team jumping out in front by more than one point until the Lancers took a four-point advantage at 20-16 on a 3-0 run.
"We settled into a good rhythm and simplified to get back to what we can do," said Schneider. "It initiated the ball rolling. We need to start doing that sooner, rather than waiting for success to happen. We have to generate it sooner."
Pacific battled back within one at 24-23, but Johnson ended the set with his eighth kill of the night to give the Lancers a 2-1 match advantage.
Looking to end the match in just four sets, CBU scored the first two points and built up a 17-10 lead. The Tigers would respond with a point, but couldn't get the ball over the net on the next serve to grab any momentum.
Determined to claim the victory, CBU approached closer and closer to match point, finishing the fourth with a 5-2 run to take the game 25-15. The home team closed the set out with a 93-percent for sideouts (15-for-16) and registered a .529 hitting clip.
The Lancers get one day of rest before jumping back on the court to face No. 6-ranked Stanford on Saturday at 7 p.m.
"If we can go out and play together as one solid team and keep our focus on being one team--playing together and trusting each other--I think we'll be fine on Saturday," said Schneider. "Stanford is a really good team so we need to be patient. They'll put together some good things, but so will we. If we stay together and don't crack, we should do just fine."
