SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team earned a five-set win at University of Saint Katherine this past Sunday, overcoming a 1-2 deficit to win 3-2 (25-21, 27-29, 21-25, 25-19, 15-13).
The Bobcats (5-11, 3-1) recorded 62 kills, 62 digs, and ten blocks in the victory which marked the Bobcats first time ever recording 60+ kills, 60+ digs, and ten+ blocks in a match.
Ryan Kilgore led the Bobcats offensively with 17 kills to go along with six digs. His kills output jumped him three spots on the program's all-time kills list with 417 career kills. Kilgore passed Jose Leon Gomez, Jacob Shelton, and Samuel Hala'ufia for fifth all-time.
Jared Guglielmana recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 kills and a career-high 17 digs. He also added two blocks and a service ace. Offensively, Guglielmana passed Leon Gomez for eighth in program history with 408 career kills and defensively he became just the sixth Bobcat ever with at least 17 digs in a match.
Jared Schnake registered his first career double-double and finished with a career-high 13 kills on a .292 hitting percentage and ten digs. The sophomore also had two blocks, one solo, and a service ace.
Max Niederberger turned in a career-high nine kills and hit .444 in addition to notching three blocks.
Daniel Del Grande pitched in six kills and three blocks, one solo, while Sebas Moreno was good for 14 digs and two service aces.
Nathan Campbell and Toby Miller finished with 27 assists each. Defensively, Campbell and Miller had four blocks and seven digs, respectively. Two of Campbell's career-high tying four blocks were solo blocks.
UC Merced and USK were hot offensively to start the match hitting .345 and .333, respectively, through the first set. UC Merced led 10-6 and 15-12, but found themselves tied with the Firebirds 16-16. Del Grande broke the deadlock with a kill and Moreno followed with a service ace to put the Bobcats up by two points, and then a Lincoln Smith kill shortly after had UC Merced up 21-18. UC Merced was able to build on that and Schnake ultimately scored set point with a kill.
The Bobcats trailed 6-1 in the second frame before exploding on a 9-1 run to grab a three-point lead with Guglielmana behind the service line. The senior had two kills and an ace in the surge. Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team either led or was tied for the next 23 rallies, but the advantage never extended past three points and it was USK who came back to take a 21-20 lead. Back-to-back UC Merced points gave the Bobcats the lead back and then they led 24-23 after a Guglielmana kill. UC Merced would have four chances to score set point, however USK didn't tap out and came back to win the frame 29-27 to pull even in the match.
USK carried the end-of-set momentum into the third set and four consecutive points had them up 6-3. The home team slowly extended their lead to five points at 17-12 and was then the first to 20 points leading 20-15. The Bobcats managed to come within two points at 23-21 before falling 25-21.
From there, the Bobcats buckled down defensively and didn't allow USK to hit any better than .105 in the fourth set or the fifth set to come away with the road victory.
In the fourth set, the Bobcats had to overcome a pair of early deficits before taking the lead for good at 14-13. A Niederberger kill shortly after put UC Merced up 17-14. After USK cut the margin to two points, the Bobcats closed the frame with a set-ending 7-3 run highlighted by a pair of Kilgore kills for points 24 & 25.
Del Grande scored the Bobcats first two points of the decisive fifth-set via the kill and five of the Bobcats first six points overall came from kills. Prachumsri's squad led 6-4 at that point and then a Bobcats block followed by a couple more points put UC Merced up by as many as five points at 9-4. The Bobcats also led by five at 10-5, but USK responded with an 8-1 run to take a 13-11 lead. Then, Kilgore dominated the Bobcats final push and he highlighted a 4-0 match-ending run with two kills and a block, including a kill for match point.
The Bobcats back-to-back five-set matches marked the first time with two straight five-set affairs on the road since March 10, 2018 at the Cal-Lu-Fornia Classic.
With the win, UC Merced reached double figure wins against a single-opponent for the first time in program history. The Bobcats are now 10-1 all-time against Saint Katherine and 5-0 on the road.
Up next, UC Merced will play at Pacific Union College on Saturday, March 9. First serve from The Covered Wagon in Angwin, Calif., is scheduled for 8:00pm.
