MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team tallied 61 kills on a .309 hitting percentage and beat University of Saint Katherine in five sets, 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-13, 25-27, 15-6) on Saturday night inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (10-13, 8-2) .309 success rate marked their second highest hitting percentage this season and their highest in a five-set match since February 2, 2018.
Jared Schnake registered a career-high 20 kills on a .405 hitting percentage (20/3/42). His 20 kills also tied the Bobcats 2024 season-high originally set by Ryan Kilgore on February 3. Schnake added ten digs for his second double-double of the season.
Kilgore had 14 kills, a season-high tying six digs, and a career-high tying four blocks. With his offensive efforts, Kilgore moved ahead of Trevor Jurlina for fourth on the program's all-time kills list with 491 career kills. The senior has registered 10+ kills in four straight Cal Pac matches.
Jared Guglielmana recorded a double-double with ten kills and 12 digs, his fifth double-double of the season. The Madera, Calif., native also added a Cal Pac career-high two service aces.
Brennan Taylor tied his career-high with nine kills on a .353 hitting percentage and had a season-high five blocks.
Nathan Campbell had 26 assists, a career-high five kills, and two blocks.
Toby Miller was good for 25 assists, seven digs, and a service ace. Saturday marked his career-best fifth straight match with an ace.
Other individual notables include eight digs and two service aces from Sebas Moreno, five digs from Kaikoa Soma, and a solo block from Colin Ryan. Moreno's two aces gives him 23 on the year, tying the program's single-season record originally set by Joey Medina in 2019.
UC Merced registered a .429 hitting percentage in all three sets they won, including starting the day with 14 kills and just two errors on 28 attempts in the opening frame. Schnake turned in the Bobcats first kill for the fourth point of the set and then Campbell and Kilgore followed shortly after. Then back-to-back blocks from Kilgore and Taylor put UC Merced up 10-8. Trailing 15-13, head coach Ai Prachumsri's team went on a 5-0 run with four straight kills and a Schnake ace. The Bobcats led by four points at 21-17 and then Colin Ryan captured set point a few rallies later.
There were eight ties and five lead changes in the first 20 rallies in the second set and UC Merced led 11-9 at the time. However, USK followed with four straight points and a 7-1 run overall to take a 16-12 lead. The Bobcats pulled within three on multiple occasions, including after a Schnake kill to make it 23-20, but couldn't get any closer than that and fell 25-21.
UC Merced pulled away from USK in the third set and used an 8-0 run to go up by 12 points at 20-8. Guglielmana was behind the service line during the run and had an ace and a kill, while Kilgore had two kills in the surge. The Bobcats also led by 12 a couple more times and it was Taylor to score set point with a kill, giving the Bobcats a 25-13 set three win and a 2-1 match lead.
The Bobcats erased a 9-5 deficit in the fourth set and fought back to tie the game 12-12 highlighted by two Schnake kills. A little later, the Bobcats scored four straight points to garner a 17-14 advantage. The Bobcats held a 19-17 lead before USK had a 4-0 run of their own resulting in a 21-19 Firebirds lead. USK reached 24 points first and were serving for set point, but Guglielmana staved it off with a kill. Schnake followed with a kill and now the Bobcats had an opportunity for match point. Max Niederberger followed with what was originally ruled a kill for match point, but the officials overturned the call and USK ended up winning the set with three straight points 27-25.
UC Merced and USK traded 3-0 spurts to start the fifth set. UC Merced took over from there, never letting USK score two in a row again and ended the night on a 12-3 match ending run. Three straight Kilgore points put the Bobcats up 6-3, and then Schnake got going and put his team up 10-4. Schnake also scored the Bobcats 13th point for a kill, while Moreno followed with an ace to make it 14-5. After a USK point, Schnake put an end to the night with his 20th kill to score match point.
The Bobcats now have three straight five-set wins after losing five straight five-setters dating back to last season.
UC Merced has two five-set wins over USK in the stretch and improved to 11-1 all-time against the Firebirds with Saturday night's win. The Bobcats eleven wins against USK are the most against any opponent in program history.
Up next, UC Merced will have a week off before traveling to Arizona to play #15 Benedictine Mesa on Thursday, April 4 at 1:30pm. The match will be played at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
