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Check out the five things to take away from the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball matches this weekend.
Johnson, Ohio State still unstoppable — All-American opposite Miles Johnson finished with a match-high 18 kills while hitting .630 in a sweep against No. 10/8 Loyola on Saturday. This was the fourth consecutive match that Johnson had double-digit kills and more than a .500 attack percentage. With this victory, Ohio State is now in sole possession of first place in the MIVA and extended its program-record winning streak to 36 matches.
So many five-game matches — There were 14 matches that went to a fifth game during the weekend, including a single-day record this season of nine matches going to the decisive game on Saturday. Among these matches featured No. 6/6 Lewis, No. 8/9 Stanford No. 11 Ball State, No. 14 Penn State, Harvard and Lees-McRae all rallying from two-game deficits for comeback victories this weekend.
Hatch smashes UCLA losing streak — Outside attacker JT Hatch led all players with both 24 kills on a .340 attack percentage and 16 digs as No. 4/4 UCLA defeated No. 9/10 Pepperdine in five games on Saturday to end its three-match losing streak. All-American middle attacker Mitch Stahl, who did not play in the first two matches of the losing streak, also had 11 kills and zero attack errors on a .611 attack percentage against the Waves.
Stanford prevails following epic overtime loss — No. 8/9 Stanford overcame a 43-41 second game overtime loss to beat No. 12 UC Santa Barbara in five games on Saturday. Outside attacker Jordan Ewert had a match-high 26 kills, while middle attacker Kevin Rakestraw added 19 kills on a .586 attack percentage in the victory to keep the Cardinal in the top five of the MPSF standings.
Healthy Barton puts up big offensive numbers — Opposite Angelos Mandilaris returning to the court for the first time in almost three weeks had a combined 24 kills on a .488 attack percentage and six aces in sweeps against Limestone and North Greenville this weekend. Barton in both matches hit more than .400, including having a .517 attack percentage against Limestone to avenge its only conference loss of the season. The two victories kept Barton in third place in the Conference Carolinas standings and a half-match behind first-place Mount Olive.