The UCI Men’s Volleyball team (6-0) defeated the Concordia University Eagles (3-2) in a quick, three set victory (25-21, 25-18, 25-16) at the Bren Events Center on Friday, Jan 20.
The first set of the match began with a quick kill by freshman opposite William D’arcy, who played outside hitter for the ‘Eaters this match. While the Eagles responded back with a kill of their own, the Anteaters went on a small 4-2 run, securing points from two attack errors and a kill to make it a 4-3 set.
The Eagles put up a good fight against UCI — beginning the set with an impressive dig by the back row and a good kill by their sophomore outside hitter Slater Fuhrman — but they still sent several balls over the Anteaters’ heads and out of bounds. They also suffered from a few egregious attack errors and were ultimately outscored by UCI’s offensive prowess.
Concordia got back into the game off of two well-placed kills, two attack errors by UCI and an out of rotation error by the ‘Eaters to make it a closer 14-12 set. Soon after, UCI junior outside hitter Francesco Sani made an impressively fast kill into Eagle territory to make it a 15-12 set.
UCI went on to score two more kills and a double-block to make it a 17-12 set. The Eagles got back into the game, though, with three straight kills into UCI territory to make it a 17-15 set. The teams were neck and neck for the rest of the set. After Concordia scored one more point off of a UCI attack error, UCI scored three more off of two attack errors by the Eagles and a good team block to maintain their lead 19-16.
The Eagles scored three straight kills to keep the game within reach with a 20-19 match score, but their efforts were in vain. D’arcy ended the first set of the game with a kill into Eagle territory to win UCI the first set, 25-21.
The second set of the match began the same way as the first one did, with D’arcy getting a kill to grant UCI their first lead. The Anteaters went up 2-1 off of an attack error by the Eagles, then swiftly hit the volleyball into the net to give the Eagles the serve. UCI quickly got it back and began a bit of a run, attaining their next five points from two attack errors by Concordia, a kill by Sani, a team block which converted into a kill, a block from redshirt junior outside hitter Doug Dahm and a kill by D’arcy to make it a 7-4 lead.
For the rest of the set, UCI maintained their lead, with kills coming in from the Anteater offense. Several Concordia net violation errors, attack errors and scrappy defensive plays widened the offensive discrepancy between the two teams. The game was beginning to look untenable for the Eagles by the 19-13 threshold, as they had let quite a few kills by the Anteaters go unchecked. While the Eagles scored five more kills before the end of the second set, the Anteaters kept rolling on with the kills, winning the second set of the game mostly uncontested, 25-18.
The third and final set of the game began with Concordia scoring the first kill of the game. UCI then scored four kills in a row, with two such points resulting from attack errors made by Concordia’s players, making it a 4-1 set. UCI maintained their lead for the entirety of the third set, going up 8-4 before allowing three straight unanswered kills by Concordia. That 8-7 score was the last time Concordia kept the set close in the match.
UCI then began a run of their own, going 7-1. Kills from Sani and redshirt junior outside hitter Cole Gillis, a block by freshman middle blocker Maxim Grigoriev and a few other attack errors widened the gap to 16-9. The gap peaked at 20-10, but the Eagles had a bit of fight left in them near the end. Many of their remaining kills came in the latter half of the set, with six more kills from the offense. In the end, though, the match was terminated after yet another hitting error by Concordia, sending the ball straight into the net to finish the game in a swift three set victory for the ‘Eaters.
UCI faced off against Concordia University again on Saturday, Jan. 21 on the Eagles’ home territory, ending with yet another 3-0 victory.
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Staff Writer for the winter 2023 quarter. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu
