CBU Takes It To Five Again

Saturday, January 7

Riverside, Calif.

12:30 PM

California Baptist University

1-2

Concordia

4-3

Concordia

California Baptist

Photo by: Jessica Castellano

CBU Takes It To Five Again

1/7/2017 2:37:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For the second day in a row, California Baptist University took an opponent to five sets at the CBU Ayres Hotels Invitational. Unfortunately, the Lancers could not pull out the winner-take-all comeback against Concordia on Saturday in the Van Dyne Gym (21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 15-9).

The Eagles won their fourth-straight match to improve to 4-3 on the year, while CBU drops to 1-2. The Lancers pick up at the Van Dyne Gym in its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener against Cal State Northridge Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then faces Long Beach State at the same time, same place on Friday.

Each team had two players named to the CBU Ayres Hotels Invitational All-Tournament team. Concordia's Joseph Pillon notched Most Valuable Player honors in the tournament, while libero Emmett Enriques and outside hitter Rohit Paul earn the distinction for CBU. The Eagles also had Jonathon Predney pick up all-tournament recognition, along with Saint Francis' Jeff Hogan and Daniel Ford and Lindenwood's Sam Schindler and Jake Duckworth.

Despite the loss, CBU hit .289 with 62 kills and 23 errors on 135 attempts in the match. Four Lancers finished with double-digit kills, led by Rohit Paul and Luis Palos with 13 each, followed by Kevin Vaz with 12 and Enrique de Diego Garcia's 11. CBU also logged 12 blocks and enjoyed a 54-49 assist advantage over the Eagles.

Vaz hit .647 in the match (12-1-17) and also had six blocks. Palos produced six digs, four blocks and an ace, while Emmett Enriques' 12 digs gave him double-digit digs for the second time in three matches. Cody Jackson came away with 48 assists, four kills, four digs and three blocks Saturday.

CBU started the match on a 3-0 run, thanks in part to a Palos kill. A 5-1 run upped the Lancers' lead to five, 10-5, with a 5-1 run fueled by two kills and a block from Garcia and a kill-block combo from Vaz.

Concordia kept coming and fought within a point, 15-14, but CBU never gave up the lead and took a big four-point lead late, 21-17, when Palos started a 3-1 run with a kill. Vaz secured the 25-21, set-one win with consecutive kills.

In set two, the Eagles took an early lead at 14-9, but the Lancers fought all the way back to a 21-21 tie. Concordia just avoided overtime in the set, with a 25-23 win, and then rode the momentum to a 25-17 win in the third.

The Lancers bounced back well in set four. The turning point came when at a 13-13 tie when Jackson Burge sparked a 4-1 run with three kills to put CBU ahead 17-14. It was close at 20-18, but a Paul kill and then a team block from Vaz and Palos made it a 22-18 lead for the Lancers. CBU closed out the set on a 3-1 run on kills from Burge, Garcia and a Jackson ace.

It continued to be a back-and-forth match in set five, with both teams fighting to create any separation. CBU fought to ties of 8-8 and 9-9 on kills from Jackson and Palos, but Concordia came up with two key blocks to spark a match-clinching, 6-0 run.