CBU Splits Opening Day

Friday, January 6

Riverside, Calif.

12:30 PM

California Baptist University

1-0

Lindenwood

0-1

Lindenwood

California Baptist

Photo by: Jessica Castellano

1/6/2017 7:34:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For the first time ever, California Baptist University hosted its own tournament with the CBU Ayres Hotels Invitational serving as opening day for the 2017 season Friday in the Van Dyne Gym.

In their first match of the year, the Lancers showed tremendous perseverance in a five-set win over Lindenwood (25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-13), but then fell to NCAA Division I Saint Francis in three (25-18, 25-17, 26-24) in Friday's finale. The Lancers conclude their first-ever tournament with a match against Concordia at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Lindenwood and Saint Francis face off in the first match Saturday at 9 a.m. The Lions start the season at 0-2 after dropping their final match of the day to Concordia in five sets, while Saint Francis is 1-1 after also falling to the Eagles on Friday.

Rohit Paul and Luis Palos led CBU with 18 kills over both matches on Friday. Enrique de Diego Garcia followed with 15, while Emmett Enriques produced a team-high 15 digs at libero. Cody Jackson put up team-highs in 51 assists and six blocks on opening day.

In the opener, CBU started out with a win in set one and then both teams exchanged wins to set up a winner-take-all fifth set. Tied at 14-14 in set one, Garcia led CBU out on a 5-0 run that gave it a 19-14 lead with some strong serving. The Lancers would close out the first set on a 4-2 run, with a Garcia kill coming in that span.

Two aces from Schick and a block and kill from Jackson sparked a 5-0 run that put CBU up 9-3 in set three. The Lancers would not look back and closed out the set on a 5-0 run, with two kills from Garcia and one from Palos highlighting the charge, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Lancers shifted into a new gear with it all on the line, and hit an even .500, with nine kills and no errors on 18 attacks, in the final frame.

"We executed pretty well in the fifth set," Coach Derek Schmitt said. "We've worked on fifth-set execution in practice and I think it paid off today."

Palos led the way with five kills on eight swings in the frame, Enriques logged four of his match-high 13 digs in the winner-take-all set.

"[Paul] and Philip Schick were our two main offensive guys in that match, but Luis came up huge in that fifth set like we knew he could," Schmitt said.

Both teams worked their way to a 6-6 tie in the fifth set, but two crucial digs from Enriques kept rallies alive and fueled a 3-0 run for CBU. Caleb Miller and Palos finished off two of those points with kills to give the Lancers a 9-6 lead. Lindenwood fought back within a point, 13-12, but Palos' fifth kill gave CBU match point and a Lions' attacking error provided it.

"My mentality was it's only 15 points, not 25, someone is going to have to step up," Palos said. "I think we all did, it wasn't just me. I didn't play well in the front row, so I knew I had to be a factor in the back row at least. There were openings and I just went for them."

Palos' 11 kills in the match were only outdone by Paul's 14 on a .370 percentage (14-4-27). Jackson turned in 35 assists, four digs, two blocks and two aces in his first collegiate start at setter. Schick notched six kills on nine swings and three aces, while fellow middle blocker Miller had four blocks and four kills apiece. Garcia finished with eight kills, five digs, two blocks and an ace in the victory.