CYPRESS, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team fell short of a reverse sweep against No. 14 Westcliff University on Friday night in the California Pacific Conference finale, 3-2 (25-21, 25-19, 22-25, 23-25, 15-11).
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (8-11) tallied a season-high 55 kills and tied the program-record with ten solo blocks.
Four Bobcats recorded double-digit kills and five Bobcats had double-digit digs.
Jozef Lingenfelter was one of three Bobcats with a double-double as he finished with 12 kills and ten digs. His double-double marked his third of the campaign. He also had a solo block and a service ace.
Daniel Del Grande matched Lingenfelter with 12 kills and a solo block. Del Grande's kills output marked a career-high and he accomplished the feat while recording a .478 hitting percentage.
Jared Guglielmana added eleven kills, a season-high ten digs, and program-record tying four solo blocks. The Madera, Calif., native is the first Bobcat since 2020 with four solo blocks in a match and is one of just four Bobcats all-time. Also of note, he is the Bobcats first pin hitter to put down four solo blocks. He is now tied with Jacob Shelton for fourth all-time with 38 career solo blocks. Guglielmana's kill/dig double-double was his first of the season.
Kaleb Cole tallied ten kills on a career-best .364 hitting percentage.
Brennan Taylor turned in a season-high seven kills hitting .468 to go along with three solo blocks.
Toby Miller dished out a season-high 46 assists and collected a season-high tying eleven digs for his third double-double of the year.
Other notables include a career-high 14 digs from Gannon Connors and eleven digs from Sebas Moreno. Moreno also passed Zach Brill for second in program history with 282 career sets played.
Rodolfo Biegelmeyer powered Westcliff with 24 kills on a .380 hitting percentage. Westcliff finished with 70 kills overall.
In the first set, the Bobcats trailed 11-5 but answered back with a 6-0 run to jump in front capped by a Taylor solo block. The set was tied 14-14 shortly after before Westcliff scored three straight points and never lost the lead. UC Merced pulled within a point a few times, but couldn't build enough momentum and fell 25-21.
The second set featured nine early ties with the last instance being 11-11. Westcliff broke the final tie with a block, sparking a 6-1 Warrior run to create the first separation of the set. Westcliff quickly built a 19-13 lead and never let its lead dip below three points the remainder of the frame. UC Merced hit .000 in the frame while the Warriors maintained a .357 hitting percentage.
Looking to avoid the sweep, the Bobcats got off to a good start in set three and held leads of 9-5 and 13-8. However, Westcliff fought back and took a 17-16 lead. The Bobcats responded with three straight points highlighted by a Guglielmana solo block to jump back in front 19-17. A Cole solo block stretched the Bobcats advantage to 23-19 and he also secured the Bobcats first set point of the match with a kill, winning the frame 25-22.
UC Merced and Westcliff went point-for-point in set four. There were 19 ties, nine lead changes, and no lead bigger than two points. Westcliff grabbed the first two-point lead at 8-6 and then the Bobcats held one at 11-9. Late in the frame tied 22-22, Guglielmana delivered a kill only to be answered by a Biegelmeyer kill. Again, Guglielmana broke the tie with a kill and then he smacked another one for set point to extend the match to a fifth set.
The Bobcats had to play from behind for the entire fifth set. The Bobcats trailed 3-1 and 11-6, but kept fighting and strong offense from Cole brought UC Merced within two points at 12-10 and forced Westcliff into a timeout. The matches kill leader, Biegelmeyer, responded with back-to-back kills to put Westcliff in a position for match point. Cole had another kill to stave off one match point, but a UC Merced service error followed to give Westcliff match point and the 3-2 victory.
With the victory, Westcliff won the Cal Pac Regular Season Championship.
UC Merced will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Cal Pac Tournament Championship and will host Simpson on Friday, April 11 at 5:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
Prior to the tournament, UC Merced will play at Jessup in a nonconference match for the regular season finale on Tuesday, April 1. First serve is scheduled for 6:00pm at Warrior Arena in Rocklin, Calif.
