USC ousts BYU in MPSF; Charleston scores EIVA upset; Vegas wins in Pro Volleyball

Jack Deuchar went off for a career-high 30 kills and sixth-seeded USC knocked third-seeded BYU out of the MPSF Championship. It sets up Thursday’s semifinals at USC pitting the Trojans vs. top-seeded UCLA and Wednesday’s two winners, Grand Canyon vs. Stanford.

There was a huge upset in the EIVA semifinals as last-place and sixth-seeded Charleston not only beat third-seeded Princeton, but swept the Tigers. Charleston plays second-seeded George Mason on Thursday, while top-seeded Penn State gets fifth-seeded Harvard, which beat fourth-seeded NJIT.

The MIVA semifinals are Thursday with top-seeded Ball State facing No. 4 Lindenwood and second-seeded Loyola Chicago vs. third-seeded Ohio State.

The Big West Championship gets underway with quarterfinals in Hawai’i, the SIAC tourney gets underway at Edward Waters and the NEC tourney continues.

There was one Pro Volleyball Federation match Wednesday as the Vegas Thrill swept the Columbus Fury.

NCAA men

MPSF: USC (13-14) won a wild one in ousting BYU 30-32, 29-27, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12.

Deuchar had 30 kills and eight errors in 54 attacks to hit .407 and had an assist, four aces, a block and seven digs. Dillon Klein had 12 kills, three blocks and nine digs. Kyle Paulson had 10 kills in 15 errorless swings, an ace, two blocks and four digs, and Riley Haine had nine kills, an assist, a block and five digs. setter Caleb Blanchette had a career-best 61 assists as USC hit .343 and both teams had six aces and 22 serving errors.

BYU, which ended its season 16-9, got 25 kills from Luke Benson, who hit .465 and had an ace, four digs and two blocks, one solo. Miks Ramanis had 19 kills, hit .325 and had three aces, five digs and three blocks, one solo. Kupono Browne added 14 kills, three assists, a block and nine digs. BYU hit .353.

UCLA (22-4) has beaten USC twice this season, sweeping on February 29 at USC and winning in four March 2 at ULCA. 

GCU (23-4) swept Concordia Irvine (6-19) as the Lopes hit .364 in a 25-19, 27-25, 25-22 victory. Camden Gianni led with 16 kills, hitting .324, to go with two blocks and six digs. Jarrett Anderson had 14 kills, hit .435, and had three of his team’s four aces, two blocks and three digs. Nicholas Slight had a kill, 47 assists, two blocks and four digs. 

Stanford (14-11) has won five in a row after eliminating Pepperdine (17-11). Will Rottman had 13 kills and hit .345 in the 25-22, 25-17, 25-19 victory to go with an assist, three aces, two block and 10 digs. Theo Snoey and Kevin Lamp had eight kills each. Pepperdine’s Akin Akinwumi had 15 kills, hit .364, and had an ace, two blocks and two digs. 

GCU swept visiting Stanford twice this season, on March 1 and two days later.

EIVA: Charleston (13-15), which had lost four of five, including a five-setter to Princeton to end the regular season, swept the Tigers 25-17, 25-23, 27-25 to make the semifinals for the first time in program history. Charleston, which hit .352, got 15 kills from Garret Schnitker and 13 from Ras Jesse Delancy. Schnitker hit .385 and had five digs and three blocks, while Delancy had four assists, two blocks and seven digs. Setter Paul Stommel had two kills in as many tries, 35 assists, an ace, two blocks and six digs. 

Princeton, which ended its season 12-12, got 17 kills from Nyherowo Omene, who hit .444 and had two assists, a block and three digs. Ben Harrington had 12 kills, two blocks and three digs. 

Harvard (12-12), which lost to NJIT (11-15) in four to end the regular season, swept the Highlanders 25-22, 25-18, 25-20. Ethan McCrary had 12 kills with no errors in 16 attacks, an assist, an ace and a block. Zach Berty had nine kills, an ace, a block and four digs. Setter James Bardin, whose team hit .347, had seven kills with one error in 11 tries, 30 assists, a block and nine digs. NJIT’s Alessandro Negri had 15 kills without an error in 27 attacks, two assists, a block and nine digs. Carson Williams had seven kills with one error in 15 swings, an ace, three blocks and a dig. 

BIG WEST: The Big West Championship starts Thursday at Hawai’i with No. 4 UC San Diego (12-14) playing fifth-seeded CSUN (12-15) and third-seeded Hawai’i (22-6) facing No. 6 UC Santa Barbara (9-17). 

On Friday, the UCSD-CSUN winner gets top-seeded Long Beach State (23-2) and the UH-UCSB winner gets No. 2 UC Irvine (18-9).

MIVA: The semifinals are Thursday when top-seeded Ball State (21-9) plays fourth-seeded Lindenwood (15-11) and second-seeded Loyola Chicago (19-9) plays third-seeded Ohio State (20-8). Ball State beat Lindenwood in five on February 10 and swept on March 16. Loyola beat Ohio State in five on February 9 and then again in five on March 2.

SIAC: The league tournament starts Thursday at Edward Waters in Jacksonville, Florida. 

Fifth-seeded Benedict (3-16) plays fourth-seeded Kentucky State (5-19)and then sixth-seeded Morehouse (1-17) plays third-seeded Central State (7-27). 

Later Thursday, the Benedict-KSU winner plays top-seeded Fort Valley State (14-8), the only team in the league with an overall winning record after going 10-0 in conference play, and then the Morehouse-CSU winner gets No. 2 Edward Waters (12-15). The conference has an automatic bid, but Edward Waters is not eligible.

CONFERENCE CAROLINAS: In Friday’s semifinals, fourth-seeded Mount Olive (17-9) faces top-seeded Belmont Abbey (19-4) before sixth-seeded King (7-20) plays second-seeded North Greenville (14-8). 

Belmont Abbey swept Mount Olive in both of their regular-season matches. North Greenville and King split their two meetings. Both were sweeps.

NEC: The semifinals for the NEC, which doesn’t get an automatic bid, pits top-seeded Saint Francis (PA) against sixth-seeded Sacred Heart and second-seeded Daemen against fourth-seeded FDU. 

Sacred Heart (12-19) upset third-seeded LIU (14-13) on Wednesday, while FDU (12-14) knocked out fifth-seeded Merrimack (9-16). 

In Sacred Heart’s 25-21, 20-25, 30-28, 25-21 victory, Patrick Mucherino led with 22 kills, hitting .429. He had an assist, an ace, three digs and three blocks. Carlos Santa Cruz had 12 kills, an ace and three blocks, one solo. LIU’s Kale Spencer had 18 kills and Livan Moreno had 14, hitting .391, and had five of his team’s 10 aces and two blocks.

FDU beat Merrimack 25-23, 27-25, 20-25, 25-23 as Ethan Young led a balanced attack with 11 kills and Dylan McFadden had eight. Merrimack’s Logan Whitaker had 19 kills, two aces, eight digs and four blocks, one solo.

Pro Volleyball Federation

The Vegas Thrill (6-12) broke a five-match losing streak and climbed out of the cellar with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-18 victory over the visiting Columbus Fury (5-11).

Hannah Maddux led a balanced Vegas attack with 12 kills, an ace, seven digs and a block assist. Layne Van Buskirk had nine kills, hit .538, and had an ace, an assist, four digs and eight blocks, two solo. Kenna Sauer had eight kills, 10 digs and three blocks, one solo. Setter Alisha Glass Childress had 41 assists, 14 digs, a kill and five blocks, three solo. Kylie Murr had 13 digs and three assists.

The Fury, which has lost six in a row, had just 33 kills, 10 by Kendall Kipp and eight each by Jenaisya Moore and Kaitlyn Hord. 

The lone PVF match Thursday has the fifth-place Orlando Valkyries (7-10) at the third-place Grand Rapids Rise (8-9).

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