REDDING, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team extended their winning streak to five matches and clinched an early postseason berth with a five-set win over Simpson University on Saturday night, 3-2 (27-25, 17-25, 25-18, 27-29, 15-9).
The Bobcats (9-11, 7-1) are the first team in the California Pacific Conference to clinch a tournament berth and they are one game up on second-place Westcliff with four league matches remaining. UC Merced will host the Cal Pac Tournament Championship April 19-20.
Jared Schnake led the Bobcats with career-high's of 14 kills and three blocks. He also recorded seven digs.
Ryan Kilgore registered eleven kills, a career-high four blocks, and two service aces. Three of his four blocks were solo.
Jared Guglielmana added eleven kills, four digs, one block, and a service ace.
Toby Miller quarterbacked the Bobcats offense with a Cal Pac season-high 32 assists and also filled the stat sheet with five digs, three kills, and two service aces.
Sebas Moreno tallied 17 digs and five assists. Saturday marked his second match with at least 17 digs in a game this year, joining just Zach Brill in 2019 as the only other Bobcat to accomplish that feat.
Brennan Taylor was good for four kills and four blocks, while Dylan Jong delivered a career-high three service aces.
Other individual notables include eleven assists from Nathan Campbell, four kills from Colin Ryan, and three blocks each from Javy Larranaga and Max Niederberger.
In the first set, UC Merced smacked a team-high 14 kills on their way to 1-0 match lead. Five different Bobcats recorded a kill within the Bobcats first nine points and head coach Ai Prachumsri's squad led 9-8 at the time. Eight lead changes followed and later on the Bobcats had to fight back from late deficits including 23-21 and 24-23. Kilgore kept the Bobcats alive in the frame with a kill to force extra points, and then Larranaga smacked a kill to put the Bobcats up 25-24. A UC Merced service error followed, but the Bobcats ended the set quickly after with back-to-back Guglielmana kills.
The second set was tied 4-4 before the Red Hawks broke the tie and grabbed a lead that they never let slip away. Simpson led by four points as early as the 11-7 mark and by six points at 17-11. The Bobcats couldn't get any closer than five the rest of the way and fell 25-17.
The Bobcats bounced back with a wire-to-wire win in the third set. UC Merced scored the first three points and then a little later put together a 5-0 run to go up 11-3 highlighted by back-to-back-to-back points from Kilgore. Shortly after, the Bobcats led by nine points at 14-5 following a Kilgore ace. UC Merced also led by nine points four other times in the set and maintained an advantage of at least five points the rest of the way. Guglielmana finished off the frame with a kill for set point as the Bobcats won the set 25-18 to go up 2-1 in the match.
Set four featured six ties and three lead changes within the first 20 rallies which led to an 11-9 Simpson advantage at the time. The next lead change occurred at the 13-12 mark following a Simpson attack error. Shortly after tied 15-15, the Bobcats scored three straight highlighted by a Miller service ace and the 18-15 UC Merced lead was the first three-point lead either team grabbed in the fourth set. The Bobcats also led by three at 22-19 and 24-21, however the squad couldn't manufacture match point and saw Simpson score four straight to erase the deficit and take a 25-24 lead. The teams alternated points for the next five rallies and the frame was tied 27-27 after a Schnake kill. Then, Simpson's Flavio Mercado recorded a kill and then a block to force a fifth set.
UC Merced took care of business in the fifth set recording a .357 hitting percentage while limiting Simpson to a -.091 mark. The Bobcats never trailed on their way to a 15-9 set five win and led by six points as early as 8-2. Guglielmana highlighted the strong start with a kill, a block, and a service ace. The lead grew to eight points at 13-5 and then Schnake ultimately ended the match with his career-best 14th kill.
The Bobcats five-set match was their fifth of the year, the most five-set matches the Bobcats have played in a season since 2020.
Prachumsri's squad finished Saturday's match with 52 kills, 12 blocks, and eight service aces.
Up next, the Bobcats will step out of conference play for a match and will host fourth-ranked OUAZ on Thursday, March 21. First serve from the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium in Merced, Calif., is scheduled for 5:00pm.
