Saturday's Alright for Sweeping

Saturday, February 6

Riverside, Calif.

1:00 PM

California Baptist University

6-6

Holy Names

0-9

Holy Names

Cal Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

Saturday's Alright for Sweeping

2/6/2016 9:32:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Heading into its third match in two days and fourth this week, California Baptist University had to dig deep in a tough non-conference match with Concordia. The Lancers came through to sweep the Eagles after doing the same to Holy Names earlier Saturday in the Van Dyne Gym.

Now, CBU finds itself in the middle of its longest winning streak since 2013, with four wins in a row. The Lancers improved to 7-6 this week, while the Eagles slipped to 8-2 and Holy Names fell to 0-10.

"We knew we could do this," said middle blocker Enrique de Diego Garcia, who provided the game winner for CBU for the second night in a row. "We were super close the last few matches, and it feels great to get it done."

"We've just been really focused and working really hard in practice. We take it point by point and are just patient and really smart. Everything was feeling great," said setter Arturo Iglesias, who made his return to the lineup this week after dealing with an injury. "It's great, I am really happy to be back."

As was the case throughout the week, California Baptist University's attack percentage led it to both victories Saturday. The Lancers hit .356 (32-11-59) with a new-look lineup against Holy Names, and then outdid themselves by hitting .423 (41-8-78) against the Eagles.

The offensive combination of Garcia and Iglesias remained a deadly one for CBU. Iglesias was in for all six sets Saturday and averaged 10.1 assists a game, with 61 in all, while the team hit .394 (73-19-137) altogether. The Lancers hit .377 on the week overall.

"Our passing was really good this week," Garcia said. "That helps the offense a lot and helps me get a lot more sets."

Garcia played in five sets and finished the day with a .667 hitting percentage, with 14 kills and no errors on 21 attempts. Garcia finished the week with a monstrous .662 percentage, with 45 kills and no errors on 68 swings. He also had nine blocks on the day, with seven against CUI.

"Enrique is just going off, he is a beast," Iglesias said. "He cannot be blocked or stopped. He is very clutch and a great, smart player. He sees the block really well and knows how to use angles."

Defensively, Emmett Enriques had his second double-digit dig performance of his career and the week. The true freshman libero had a career-high 12 digs against the Eagles.

"Our passers did really well and that gives me every option to set everyone," Iglesias said.

CBU logged 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 set wins over Concordia, but had to come back in the final two sets.

The Eagles led by two, 23-21, in the second set, but the Lancers zoomed right past them with a 4-0 run started by a service error, continued on a combo block from Garcia and DeLyon and closed out on a Paul ace and Garcia kill.

In the third, Concordia used a 3-1 run to take a 21-20 advantage. Kills from Garcia and Powell put CBU back in front before a service error knotted the score again, 22-22. Once again, the Lancers came alive with their backs against the wall and closed out the match on a 3-0 run composed of kills from Jackson Burge, Powell and DeLyon.

The Lancers raced out to a 7-3 lead to start the match on kills from Rohit Paul and Roy Powell. Two kills from Powell sparked a 3-1 CBU run that kept his team up four, 13-9.

It was consecutive blocks from Garcia and DeLyon and then back-to-back kills from Burge that fueled a 6-2 run that gave the Lancers a 19-14 edge. A 3-1 charge started by a Paul kill and Jackson ace ended the set.

Five players had at least six kills in the match. Powell amassed a team-high 11 kills on a .588 clip (11-1-17) against CUI. DeLyon had nine kills, four digs and five blocks in the match. Paul chipped in six kills, four digs, two blocks and three aces.

"I love giving the ball to everyone and that helps everyone get one-on-one looks," Iglesias said. "Jackson came in this week and played great, and Roy has been awesome. It was a lot of fun setting the offense this week."

Defense and tough serving led the Lancers to a win in the opener with the Hawks. HNU hit -.060 (19-23-67). CBU owned a 23-13 edge in digs and 10-3 advantage in aces. Iglesias had 25 assists, six digs and four blocks in the win. Luis Palos had seven kills and three aces in the match, while Kevin Vaz added six kills and three aces.

"This feels good, we are going to celebrate it, but it doesn't really mean anything right now," Iglesias said of the dominant week. "We are still working in practice, and we want to make playoffs, so it is just on to the next one."

CBU hosts second-ranked Long Beach State Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then gets a rematch with No. 12 Cal State Northridge Friday at 7 p.m.

"This is not a one-week thing, hopefully we can do this the rest of the season," Garcia said. "It is going to be hard next week, but I think we can beat both of those teams next week if we keep playing this way."