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It was a record-setting long day in college men’s volleyball
A season-high nine NCAA Division I-II matches went to a decisive fifth game on Saturday. In addition, every conference had at least one of their matches reach five games and 10 nationally ranked teams were involved in these matches.
Check out the match results and the fifth-game recap of every match that went five games on Saturday.
No. 4/4 UCLA def. No. 9/10 Pepperdine 23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-7
Fifth-game recap: UCLA after forcing a fifth game went on a 7-2 run to open the final game and and led by as many as eight points. The Bruins had a match-best .600 attack percentage, including outside attacker JT Hatch having three kills and an ace.
No. 6/6 Lewis def. McKendree 20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16, 15-7
Fifth-game recap: Lewis jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the start of the game and ended the game out-hitting McKendree .667 to negative-.286. Preseason All-American opposite Mitch Perinar had a game-high five kills and added a block to help the Flyers avoid the upset.
No. 7/7 UC Irvine def. No. 13 CSUN 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9
Fifth-game recap: All-American outside attacker Tamir Hershko led all players with seven kills in the fifth game, including three of his kills being part of a 5-1 run to finish the match. The Anteaters following a six-point loss in game four had a match-best .692 attack percentage in the final game.
No. 8/9 Stanford def. No. 12 UC Santa Barbara 23-25, 41-43, 26-24, 25-15, 15-10
Fifth-game recap: Stanford outside attacker Jordan Ewert had four kills in the first seven points of the fifth game to help the Cardinal complete its comeback victory. In addition, UC Santa Barbara committed six attack errors and was held to a match-worst negative-.200 attack percentage in the fifth game.
No. 14 Penn State def. Princeton 22-25, 25-27, 25-19, 27-25, 15-9
Fifth-game recap: Penn State started the fifth game on a 4-0 run, including having back-to-back kills from opposite Calvin Mende. Mende had a match-high 29 kills and led all players with six kills in the decisive fifth game to help the Nittany Lions get the comeback win.
Harvard def. No. 15 George Mason 18-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-10
Fifth-game recap: Harvard committed no attack errors and out-hit No. 15 George Mason .538 to .100 in the fifth game to earn its first victory against a nationally ranked team this season. Outside attacker Erik Johnson had three kills in fifth game, including the match-winning kill, and added a block and an ace.
NJIT def. St. Francis 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-11
Fifth-game recap: Middle attacker Luke Robbe had a team-high three kills on a .750 attack percentage in the decisive fifth game. In addition, NJIT overcame being out-hit .312 to .211 in the fifth game to earn its first EIVA victory of the season
Lees-McRae def. Emmanuel 24-26, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16, 16-14
Fifth-game recap: Despite being out-hit and held to a .143 attack percentage in the decisive fifth game, Lees-McRae won in overtime to complete the comeback conference victory. Libero Keenan Freitas also finished with a season-high 19 digs against Emmanuel.
Coker def. Alderson Broaddus 29-27, 25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 15-13
Fifth-game recap: Coker rallied from a three-point deficit midway through the fifth game as it went on a 5-0 run and closed out the match on a 9-4 run for the non-conference victory. Coker opposite Joao Victor Santos had a game-high five kills, including the match-winning kill.