MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team fell 3-2 (26-24, 25-20, 21-25, 17-25, 8-15) to #7 Menlo College in the 2024 season opener on Tuesday afternoon inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (0-1) won two sets against a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time since March 5, 2022.
UC Merced also maintained a higher hitting percentage than Menlo College, hitting .261 compared to the Oaks .198, and won the blocking battle 12-4.
Toby Miller quarterbacked the Bobcats offense with 41 assists to go along with 12 digs, four blocks, three kills, and a service ace. Miller's double-double was the fourth of his career, while his 12 digs and four blocks tied his career-high. Three of Miller's four blocks were solo blocks.
Ryan Kilgore finished with 14 kills and a career-high tying three blocks, including two solo blocks. He also had four digs and a service ace.
Lincoln Smith had a career-high eleven kills on a .364 hitting percentage and seven digs.
Jared Guglielmana stuffed the stat sheet with nine kills, three blocks (one solo), and a career-high three service aces.
Max Niederberger pitched in seven kills on a .500 (7/1/12) hitting percentage and had three blocks, one solo. Colin Ryan added five kills and three blocks as Niederberger's counterpart in the middle.
Sebas Moreno recorded a career-high 11 digs in addition to ripping across a service ace.
UC Merced opened the season winning four of the first six rallies and then used that early momentum to be the first team to ten points following one of Miller's three solo blocks. Later on, the Bobcats led 19-14 but a Menlo run threatened the Bobcats in the first set. The Oaks scored five straight points to pull even and went on a 9-2 run overall to take a 23-21 lead. Prachumsri called a timeout and the Bobcats followed with three straight points, including a Kilgore kill, to jump back in front 24-23. Menlo answered with a kill, but Smith countered that with a kill of his own to set up another set point opportunity and it was captured the next rally via an Oaks attack error.
The Bobcats, who were looking to win their fifth consecutive home opener, led 15-11 midway through the second frame behind good stretches from Guglielmana and Niederberger. The Bobcats led by just one point shortly after but scored three unanswered highlighted by a Guglielmana ace to go up 20-16. After the Bobcats advantage got trimmed to a single point again at 21-20, a Miller solo block sparked a 4-0 set-ending run that put the Bobcats up 2-0 in the match. Smith scored set point with a kill.
Menlo College bounced back in the third set with a 7-2 run to start and then led by six points at 13-7. It was 22-14 with Menlo leading later on, but then momentum started to shift the Bobcats way after each team was issued a red card bringing the score to 23-15. The Bobcats followed with three consecutive kills and then a Guglielmana ace forced the Oaks to call a timeout. Kilgore then registered a solo block, but the run ended there and the Oaks would take the frame 25-21.
The nationally-ranked Oaks played some of their best volleyball in the fourth set and smacked 12 kills with just three errors in the 25-17 win. The Bobcats were within three points at 17-14 but the Oaks countered with three straight scores and they led by at least five points the rest of the frame, including ending the set with a 4-1 run.
UC Merced played just two five-set matches a year ago and they were forced into going the distance right away to start the season. The Bobcats got an early kill from Miller, but couldn't score back-to-back points until after the switch and it was to turn a five-point deficit into a 10-7 deficit. Though the Bobcats pulled closer, the Oaks made things tough on UC Merced with three kills in the next four rallies plus a Bobcats attack error to set up match point which was captured two rallies later on a missed serve.
UC Merced, who has four Top 10 wins all-time, was looking to earn its first nationally-ranked win since 2019.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will get another chance at a nationally-ranked opponent when they play #13 University of Jamestown to start the Jamestown Invitational on Thursday, February 1. First serve from Harold Newman Arena in Jamestown, ND., is scheduled for 5:00pm PST.
