MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team fell to No. 12 Westcliff University in four sets on Thursday night, 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21) inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
The Bobcats (3-9, 1-1) hit .357 in the first set win, but struggled to maintain consistent offense the rest of the way. Overall, the Bobcats smacked 49 kills which was tied for the second highest kills output of the season.
Kaleb Cole led the Bobcats with a career-high 14 kills. He also had four digs and two blocks, one solo.
Jozef Lingenfelter had 12 kills and three digs, while Daniel Del Grande added six kills and three blocks.
Max Niederberger turned in five kills without an error on eight swings for a .625 hitting percentage.
Toby Miller dealt 35 assists to go along with eight digs, four kills, and two blocks. Miller eclipsed 1,500 career assists.
Gannon Connors tallied a career-high 13 digs and tied his career-high with two kills and two blocks. He also had four kills.
Sebas Moreno was good for eight digs, five assists, and a service ace. The Madera, Calif., native moved up the record books in all three categories on Thursday, including passing Ben Nilsen for fifth all-time in program history with 437 career digs. He passed Kainoa Ferguson for third with 53 career service aces and Zach Brill for eighth with 144 career assists.
The Bobcats had a stellar start to the first set scoring seven straight points highlighted by two kills and a block from Lingenfelter. Miller was behind the service line in the surge. A Moreno ace put the Bobcats ahead 10-2 shortly after and the Bobcats also led by eight points at the 19-11 mark. Westcliff fought back to pull within three points, 21-18, but the Bobcats answered back with a Connors kill and rode that extra boost to a 25-19 set one win. UC Merced hit .353 in the frame while limiting Westcliff to -.053.
UC Merced led 10-7 in the second set before Westcliff scored four in a row to jump in front. After a Westcliff service error, the Bobcats grabbed the lead back with a Connors service ace. A little later, the two teams went kill-for-kill and a Del Grande kill got the Bobcats to 20 points while leading 20-18. UC Merced was unable to hold on to the lead as Westcliff responded to the deficit with a 7-2 set-ending run that saw the Warriors score the final four points. Three of the Warriors final four points came from a kill and the match was tied 1-1.
An early 5-0 Westcliff run had the Bobcats playing catchup for the majority of the set. The Bobcats pulled within three at 10-7 with the help of a couple Niederberger kills, but UC Merced fell further behind shortly after with an 8-2 Warrior run. The Bobcats biggest deficit was nine points at 18-9 and they were never able to get within four the rest of the set, eventually falling 25-17.
The Bobcats opened up a 6-3 lead in the fourth set with strong play from the middle blockers. Back-to-back Miller kills pushed the Bobcats lead to five points at 13-8 and then the biggest lead was six points after a Lingenfelter kill, 15-9. UC Merced led 17-12, however Westcliff reeled off eight consecutive points to turn its deficit into a 20-17 lead. The Bobcats closed the gap to one at 21-20 before the Warriors ended the match shortly after winning four of the next five rallies.
UC Merced combined to hit just .075 across the final three sets.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats turned in 49 kills compared to the Warriors 37. The Bobcats were unable to overcome 30 attack errors and 21 service errors.
Looking ahead, UC Merced will host Soka University of America on Saturday, March 8 at 2:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
