Ace In Tuttle

Thursday, February 26

Riverside

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

3-13

Holy Names

1-6

HNU

CBU

Photo by: Lauren Garcia

2/26/2015 9:14:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – California Baptist University had to fight for most everything it got in the first two sets of its nonconference match with Holy Names, but the Lancers exploded in the third set to complete a sweep of the Hawks Thursday night in the Van Dyne Gym.

Shorthanded once again with injuries, CBU won on set scores of 25-18, 25-22, 25-12 to improve to 4-13 on the year. Holy Names slid to 1-6 this season. The Lancers host another non-conference foe in UC Merced Friday at 7 p.m.

"The guys started finding their rhythm, clicking and doing things the way they can," Coach Wes Schneider said of the third set. "The first two sets we were off because we haven't had a lot of opportunities for this group to work together. It was just a matter of getting familiar again and once they did, they relaxed and found their groove. It showed."

The Lancers were without two of their regular starters, while another -- libero Kevin Kustura -- joined the team after missing the last five matches with an injury.

Rohit Paul led the Lancers with a match-high 10 kills, along with three aces, two digs and a block. Jonathan Tuttle had a match-high 15.5 points for the home team, though, with eight kills on a .357 hitting percentage, seven aces, three digs and a block assist. Tuttle's seven aces rank fifth in a single match for CBU.

"This win feels [good], it's definitely something we needed," Tuttle said. "This is a confidence booster and hopefully it rolls into our matches tomorrow and next week in conference."

CBU hit .319 (35 kills, 13 errors, 69 attempts) as a team, with Zachary Melcher dishing out 29 assists. Middle blockers Caleb Miller and Daniel Maurer combined for nine kills. Maurer did so on an .833 percentage (five kills, no errors on six attempts) and Miller hit .667 (4-0-6).

"The middles did a really good job offensively," Schneider said. "They made themselves available and we've been working on that."

In the first set, CBU jumped out to a big 14-5 lead on three kills from Paul, two kills from Maurer and a spike each from Roy Powell and Miller. Holy Names called timeout and quickly regrouped with some tough serves from Nelson Fisher to pull within 15-13.

That forced a Lancer timeout and Tuttle responded with his first kill of the night. CBU took back momentum in the set and charged out to a 22-16 lead after consecutive kills from Maurer, an ace from Paul and another attack from Tuttle. The match ended on a 3-1 CBU run, with Miller, Tuttle and Paul all powering down kills to end the set, 25-18.

There were five ties in the second set, but just one lead change that came after CBU overcame a 2-0 hole to take a 6-3 edge, with a Tuttle ace highlighting the run. Despite a few ties, the Lancers worked their way back to an 18-15 lead with a 3-0 run bookended by kills from Tuttle and Jackson Burge.

Holy Names fought to pull within one on several occasions, but CBU never let it get any closer. Tuttle smashed a kill late and a Hawk error followed to give the Lancers a 24-21 lead. HNU stayed alive briefly, but a service error closed out the game for the home team.

CBU came out strong again in the third set, with Tuttle's serving helping give his team an early 3-0 edge and an ace from Maurer helped the Lancers pull in front by five, 7-2. HNU started to chip away and was within 11-8 when CBU took complete control of the match on a 6-0 run. Tuttle's service sparked the run, with four of those points coming on aces from the senior.

"There were points where we needed to put the ball away and I wanted to make sure of that," Tuttle said of his serving.

The Lancers kept building up steam and closed out the match on a 3-0 run, with a Giovanni Llinas Rosa kill and a Paul ace ending matters.