Coming Out Strong

Wednesday, February 1

Riverside, Calif.

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

2-8, 1-6MPSF

UC Irvine

8-3, 5-2MPSF

UC Irvine

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

2/1/2017 9:26:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — California Baptist University came out strong, but dropped a four-set match to No. 6-ranked UC Irvine Wednesday night.

The Lancers drop to 2-8 overall, 1-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Anteaters improve to 8-3, 5-2 in conference.

Kevin Vaz led CBU with 12 kills, while Enrique de Diego Garcia followed with nine kills – committing just one error and boasting a .500 hitting clip. Cody Jackson assisted 33 times in the four-set match and laid down five kills on five attempts. Back in the libero position, Emmett Enriques finished with 11 digs on the night.

CBU jumped out to an explosive start, stunning the Anteaters with a 3-0 run to open the match. Vaz bookended the run with kills, while Luis Palos served up an ace before UCI knew what hit it.

The Anteaters tried to regain their footing and managed to take over the lead briefly, 20-17.

Coach Derek Schmitt called a timeout and CBU came back with a response. Jackson and Palos fired off back-to-back kills to pull within one and force a UCI timeout.

The visitors looked like they might sneak away with the first-set victory, holding a 23-20 lead late in the set, but the Lancers came storming back in it. Consecutive kills from Garcia, followed by a kill from Rohit Paul gave the Lancers set point, 25-24.

Neither team was ready to give up as the game was tied at 25, 26 and 27 before Vaz sealed the deal for CBU. The junior opposite hitter slammed home a kill to give the Lancers set point once more and then teamed up with Palos and Jackson Burge for a combo stuff to hand CBU the 29-27 victory.

CBU tried to use momentum from the first set into the rest of the match, but couldn't quite seem to keep the Anteaters at bay. UCI would take the next three sets 25-15, 25-17 and 25-16 to take the match.

The Lancers have had to face ranked foe after ranked foe and have continued to battle. CBU gets one day to recover, however, hosting non-conference opponent Grand Canyon – which is receiving votes in the latest poll – on Friday at 7:00 p.m.