CHICAGO, Ill. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team tallied a program-record 20 blocks and forced a fifth set against the fourth-ranked and defending NAIA national champion Georgetown Tigers, but fell 3-2 (25-22, 14-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-10) on Friday evening at the SXU Tournament.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (1-1) limited Georgetown to just a .097 hitting percentage. UC Merced's 20 blocks bested the program's previous single-game record of 18 against OUAZ on February 11, 2018.
Daniel Del Grande neared the individual record and registered a career-high eleven blocks, including three solo. His 11 blocks are the most by any Bobcat since February 15, 2016 (Samuel Hala'ufia, 12). Del Grande also had five kills and his first career service ace.
Colin Ryan finished with a career-high tying six blocks, three solo. Offensively, he smacked seven kills on a .500 hitting percentage.
Jared Guglielmana filled the stat sheet with eight kills, seven digs, and five blocks. Of his career-high five blocks, three were solo. With his numbers, he passed Ryan Kilgore for third in program history with 538 career kills and Trevor Jurlina for seventh with 27 solo blocks.
Kaleb Cole was another Bobcat with a career-performance as he put away a career-high 12 kills to go along with three blocks.
Jozef Lingenfelter pitched in nine kills, ten digs, and two blocks, while Sebas Moreno added 13 digs.
Toby Miller finished with 37 assists, seven digs, four blocks, a career-high tying three service aces, and two kills.
UC Merced scored the first three points of the opening set and led by three on three more occasions throughout the set including as late as the 16-13 mark. The Bobcats were hanging on to a one-point advantage a little later before Georgetown changed the dynamic with four unanswered points to go up 22-19. Head coach Ai Prachumsri's team pulled back within one but dropped the set 25-22.
The Bobcats bounced back with a .350 hitting percentage in the second set while limiting the Tigers to a -.133 mark. Tied 7-7, UC Merced used a 5-0 run to create separation highlighted by two kills and two blocks from Cole and the Bobcats never looked back. UC Merced led by ten points at 20-10 and Cole remained hot, scoring set point for his squad in the 25-14 set two win. Overall, the Sanger, Calif., native had seven points in the frame.
The Bobcats fell behind by five points, 14-9, in the third set but responded with three straight points and stayed within three the rest of the period. Trailing 22-20 late, Ryan tied the game with a kill followed by a solo block. However, Georgetown broke the tie and scored the next three points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
UC Merced was the first team to ten points in the fourth set, holding a 10-6 lead. The advantage grew to five points at 18-13 and it was also the same margin later on leading 23-18. Del Grande was a huge factor in the fourth set with four blocks and a kill leading up to the 23-point mark. A few rallies later, Guglielmana scored set point with a kill to force the fifth set.
There were six ties and two lead changes in the fifth set before switching sides with Georgetown leading 8-7. Del Grande and Miller reacted to the deficit with a block to tie the game, but then Georgetown finished the night with a 7-2 match-ending run that included four kills.
In a final line that was almost even, UC Merced recorded more points, aces, blocks, and digs than the opponent in the loss.
Up next, UC Merced will play No. 2 Saint Xavier University on Saturday, January 25 at 12:00pm PST at the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill.
