IRVINE, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team dropped a five-set affair to Westcliff University on Friday night in the first Cal Pac road test of the season, 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 25-13, 13-25, 18-16).
The Bobcats (4-11, 2-1) forced a fifth frame with a dominant 25-13 win in the fourth set, and staved off two match points in the decisive set before falling short.
Ryan Kilgore led the Bobcats with 18 kills on a .375 hitting percentage to go along with five digs and two solo blocks. His kills output marked the second highest of his career, while his five digs were a season-high.
Jared Schnake tallied a career-high ten kills and hit .333. He also had eight digs.
Jared Guglielmana was good for eight kills, while Daniel Del Grande registered six kills without an error on nine attempts. The two also added nine digs and two blocks, respectively. One of Del Grande's two blocks was solo.
Nathan Campbell finished with 27 assists and tied his career-high with four blocks, two solo. Toby Miller pitched in 25 assists.
Other notables include eleven digs from Sebas Moreno, five kills from Javy Larranaga, and five kills and two blocks from Max Niederberger.
Despite the loss, UC Merced had more kills than Westcliff and recorded a .263 hitting percentage compared to the Warriors' .193.
UC Merced hit .406 in the first set and .571 in the fourth frame. Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team won both those frames.
The Bobcats jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set but there were then 13 ties and five lead changes leading up to the final rallies of the period. Westcliff led 22-20 down the stretch before the Bobcats put together a 5-0 set-ending run capped off by a Schnake kill for set point. Kilgore started the final push with a kill and a solo block.
The Bobcats led 6-4 after ten rallies in the second set but then found themselves trailing 11-8 a little later. UC Merced then fell behind 16-10 and never got any closer than five points the rest of the frame and fell 25-19.
Westcliff dominated the third set in part due to holding UC Merced to a .000 hitting percentage. The Warriors reached ten points first while leading 10-4 and extended their advantage to as many as eight points as early as the 14-6 mark. Back-to-back kills from Kilgore and Guglielmana helped get the Bobcats within six points, but Westcliff didn't let the Bobcats garner any momentum from it and followed with an 8-2 set ending run.
UC Merced bounced back with a dominant fourth set, hitting .571 and holding Westcliff to a -.080 hitting percentage. Kilgore smacked two early kills and three other Bobcats recorded a kill in the Bobcats first ten points to put their team up 10-5. The Bobcats led by eight points at 18-10 and then shortly after back-to-back blocks by Campbell put UC Merced up by double digits at 21-11. Kilgore scored the Bobcats 24th point with a kill before a Westcliff attack error officially sent the match to a fifth set. The Bobcats won the fourth 25-13.
The fifth frame saw seven ties and three lead changes before the teams switched sides and at that point it was 8-7 Westcliff in front. The Bobcats scored the next two points and three of the next four to go up 10-9 highlighted by a solo block and a kill by Del Grande. However, the Bobcats then found themselves trailing 13-11 and then 14-12 having to stave off multiple match points. Niederberger and Campbell notched a kill each to make it 14-14, but the Bobcats never had a match point opportunity of their own and eventually fell 18-16.
