NCAA men: Upset for Lindenwood, last two unbeatens lose, Pepperdine wins MPSF opener

AJ Lewis had 28 kills and Lindenwood upset No. 9 Lewis in MIVA action Friday, third-ranked Hawai’i blanked previously unbeaten No. 15 Lincoln Memorial, and Pepperdine won the first set 42-40 en route to winning the first MPSF match of the season, a four-set victory at Grand Canyon.

The only other unbeaten team, Concordia, got swept at UC Irvine.

The recaps follow, but first a look at Saturday’s NCAA Division I-II men’s schedule, one that includes the rematch between No. 1 Long Beach State (7-1) of the Big West at No. 2 UCLA (7-2) of the MPSF. They played February 11 and Long Beach swept the visiting Bruins. 

Hawai’i of the Big West plays host again to independent Lincoln Memorial, No. 6 UC Santa Barbara of the Big West is home for No, 13 BYU of the MPSF, No. 11 UC San Diego of the Big West is home for the SIAC’s Central State, and the Big West’s UC Irvine is home for UC Santa Cruz.

Fourth-ranked Penn State is back in EIVA action when the Nittany Lions entertain St. Francis (PA) in a match between the league leaders. Both are 4-0 in EIVA play. Also in the EIVA, the only other team unbeaten in the conference, 3-0 NJIT, is at Harvard. Charleston is at Princeton, St. Francis Brooklyn is at Sacred Heart, and George Mason is home for independent Queens.

In the MIVA, No. 7 Ball State is home for Loyola, No. 9 Lewis tries to bounce back at Quincy, and McKendree is at Lindenwood.

There are two Conference Carolinas matches when North Greenville goes to Lees-McRae and Erskine is at Belmont Abbey. Emmanuel plays host to the SIAC’s Fort Valley State.

Also, the SIAC’s Edward Waters is at independent Limestone. Other independents in action include Alderson Broaddus playing both Cornerstone and Mount Vernon Nazarene, Maryville playing both Graceland and UHSP, and D’Youville facing Fairleigh Dickinson.

Want to watch a match? We have the viewing links in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.

Lindenwood (3-5, 1-2 MIVA), which was coming off back-to-back losses, knocked off visiting Lewis (7-4, 1-2) 18-25, 25-19, 29-27, 19-25, 15-9.

AJ Lewis got his 28 kills with six errors in 46 attacks to go with three aces and five digs. Lindenwood hit .326 and had 13 aces and 19 errors. Diego Negron had 16 kills, seven aces, three blocks, and six digs. Phil Swartz had 10 kills, an ace, and five digs. 

Lewis, which lost despite hitting .427, had one ace and 14 serving errors. Tyler Mitchem led with 18 kills as he hit .600 and had a dig and five blocks, one solo, but he also had no aces and five errors. Corter Burzlaff had 13 kills, hit .435, and added an assist, three blocks, and three digs. He, too, had no aces and five errors. Michael Sack had 10 kills with no errors in 15 attacks and three blocks, and Kevin Kauling had eight kills with no errors in 18 attacks, two blocks, and four digs … 

Hawai’i (11-2) downed visiting Lincoln Memorial (8-1) 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 as four players had six or more kills, 10 by Dimitrios Mouchilias. He had one error in 20 attacks, two aces, a solo block, and two digs. Spyros Chakas had nine kills, two assists, two aces, a block, and four digs. Guilherme Voss had eight kills with one error in 11 swings and two solo blocks. Hawai’i hit .304 and had five aces and eight digs. The Railsplitters hit .272 and had four aces and 17 errors. Cole Campisano had 12 kills and Johansen Negron and Justin Sharfenaker 11 each. Campisano had one error in 22 attacks, an assist, a block, and a dig. Negron had two assists, an ace, and six digs. Sharfenaker had an assist, two aces, three blocks, and eight digs … 

In the first MPSF match of the season, No. 8 Pepperdine (6-3, 1-0) won 40-42, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20 at No. 10 Grand Canyon (6-6, 0-1). Pepperdine, which hit .402 and had seven aces and eight golds, got 20 kills from Spencer Wickens. Wickens hit .432 and had an assist, two solo blocks, and four digs. Jaylen Jasper had 19 kills, hit .350, and had an assist, an ace, three blocks, and seven digs. GCU’s Christian Janke had 23 kills, hit .410, and had seven digs. He had no aces and six errors as the Lopes hit .322 and had three aces and 19 errors. Gianni Camden had 20 kills, hit .318, and had two assists, three aces, two blocks, and four digs. Hugo Fisher had 17 kills … 

Sixth-ranked UC Santa Barbara (8-4) of the Big West swept visiting No. 13 BYU (5-6) of the MPSF 25-21, 25-18, 25-23. The Gauchos, who hit .253 and had six aces and 10 errors, got 11 kills from Ryan Wilcox and 10 from Nick Amoruso. Wilcox had five blocks and four digs. BYU hit .150 and had four aces and 14 errors. Davide Gardini led with eight kills, an ace, three digs, and a block … 

No. 11 UC San Diego (6-5) swept visiting DIII independent UC Santa Cruz (3-12). Nick Rigo had 12 kills with one error in 16 attacks, an assist, a dig, and six blocks, one solo. Kyle McCauley had 11 kills, an ace, three blocks, and six digs and Matthew Lim had 11 kills, hit .500, and had an ace, three blocks, and two digs … 

No. 12 Stanford (8-3) of the MPSF hit .480 and swept visiting CSUN (3-3) of the Big West as Will Rottman had 17 kills and hit .577 in the 25-17, 25-13, 26-24 victory. Rottman had three aces, a block, and four digs. Nathaniel Gates had 10 kills, hit .615, and had an assist, a block, and a dig. Stanford had five aces and 12 errors. CSUN hit .189 and had two aces and 11 errors. Griffin Walters led with 10 kills in 21 errorless attacks … 

UC Irvine (5-8) of the Big West swept the MPSF’s Concordia (5-1) 25-22, 25-22, 27-25. Francesco Sani led with 15 kills as he hit .314 and had two assists, two aces, three blocks, and four digs. Hilir Henno had 13 kills, an assist, three blocks, and 10 digs. Campbell Conor had nine kills with no error in 14 attacks and nine blocks, one solo. UCI hit .248 and had four aces and 11 errors. Cole Power had 14 digs and two assists. Uriel Batista had 17 kills, hit .324, and had four blocks and six digs for Concordia. CUI hit .183 and had two aces and eight errors … 

In the EIVA, NJIT (7-2, 3-0) swept at Sacred Heart (4-4, 0-3) as Alessandro Negri had 10 kills with one error in 22 attacks in the 25-18, 25-20, 25-20 victory. He added three aces and a block. Julian Meissner had nine kills, an ace, and two blocks. The Highlanders hit .347 and had seven aces and 17 errors. Sacred Heart hit .167 and had two aces and 11 errors …  Harvard (3-6, 1-2) swept visiting St. Francis Brooklyn (5-4, 2-3) 25-17, 21-25, 25-20, 25-20. Campbell Schoenfeld led with 12 kills, an assist, a block, and 12 digs. Jason Shen had 11 digs and six assists. The Crimson hit .283 and had five aces and 19 errors. St. Francis hit .152 and had eight aces — four by David Vorfi — and 18 errors … Princeton (3-8, 2-3) beat visiting Charleston (4-3, 1-2) as Ben Harrington had 15 kills in the 25-23, 25-16, 23-25, 25-19 sweep. Harrington, who hit .321, had an assist, three aces, and six digs. Nate Thompson had 11 kills, hit .333, and had two aces. The Tigers hit .214 and had 10 aces and 24 errors. Charleston hit .112 and had two aces and 17 errors … 

In an SIAC match, Benedict (1-5, 1-1) won its first in program history as the Tigers swept visiting Morehouse (0-2, 0-1). Donovan Wilmott led with 12 kills in the 25-13, 25-19, 25-18 victory. He had three errors in 16 attacks to hit .563 and had an assist and a solo block. De’Andrae Taylor had eight kills with one error in 12 swings, two aces, and a solo block. Clinton Forbes had 11 digs and two assists …

Saint Francis (7-4) of the EIVA swept independent Queens (6-6). Blake Liprando led with 13 kills as he hit .600 after having one error in 20 attacks …

Emmanuel (5-3) of Conference Carolinas beat the SIAC’s Edward Waters (1-10) in four, but Barton’s match against independent Limestone was canceled. Emmanuel’s Eli Zdonek had 19 kills with one error in 43 attacks, two assists, three aces, three blocks, and two digs … 

Independent Tusculum (2-7) swept Fort Valley State (1-6) of the SIAC … LIU (4-10) swept another independent, D’Youville (4-4) … American International (2-7) won in four at Russell Sage (3-9) … Campbellsville beat the SIAC’s Central State in four.

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