CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The No. 12 seed University of California, Merced men's volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Wednesday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to No. 5 St. Thomas in NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship Pool Play. Set scores were 25-22, 25-17, 16-25, and 25-21 at Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Despite the loss, the Bobcats (10-14) recorded four-set season-highs of 51 kills on 48 assists. UC Merced also racked up 13 blocks, the most blocks by any of St. Thomas' 25 opponents this year.
The Bobcats defense also collected 42 digs which is another feat that no other St. Thomas opponent managed to do in four sets in 2025.
Brennan Taylor highlighted the Bobcats efforts with a career-high 10 kills on a .412 hitting percentage. He added five blocks, including two solo blocks. The Sanger, Calif., native ends his career with a block in 13 consecutive matches.
Kaleb Cole finished with ten kills and a career-high five blocks, one solo.
Jared Guglielmana tallied a double-double pounding out ten kills to go along with a season-high tying eleven digs. It was his second double-double in the Bobcats last three postseason matches as he also notched one in the California Pacific Conference Tournament Championship win.
Daniel Del Grande had eight kills and four blocks, two solo.
Jozef Lingenfelter added six kills and broke the program's single-season solo blocks record. He notched three solo blocks to put him at the record-breaking number of 19, beating Ryan Kilgore's previous record. Also of note, Lingenfelter had a block assist and three digs.
Toby Miller recorded a four-set season-high 42 assists and neared a double-double with nine digs. The setter put down two kills of his own.
Other notables include nine digs and a service ace from Sebas Moreno and eight digs and five kills from Gannon Connors. Moreno played in his 300th career set, the second most appearances in program history.
St. Thomas was led by pin hitters Kaelen Ingram (19 kills) and Gabriel Negrao (18 kills/14 digs) in the program's first ever national tournament match. With the help of the offensive duo, St. Thomas extended its winning streak to 24 matches.
Playing its second match in 24 hours, UC Merced never led in the first set and fell behind 14-7 forcing head coach Ai Prachumsri to call a timeout. The Bobcats scored three straight out of the timeout highlighted by a Lingenfelter kill and continued to chip away at the deficit, eventually pulling within two points later on at 20-18. The two teams traded points the rest of the frame with St. Thomas winning 25-22. All of St. Thomas' final five points came via the kill as they finished the frame with a .423 hitting percentage. UC Merced hit .320.
Cole and Del Grande opened the second set with a kill but a 5-1 St. Thomas run followed and the Bobcats had to play from behind the rest of the set. The Bobcats deficit was nine points at 18-9 and as many as 12 at 23-11.
The Bobcats recovered in the third set and an early 5-0 run caused St. Thomas to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, St. Thomas had a strong stretch to pull even 6-6. Tied 9-9 shortly after, back-to-back Taylor kills sparked a 7-0 explosion and the Bobcats led the rest of the way. The two kills were followed by four consecutive blocks, three solo including one from Taylor. UC Merced led 16-9 after the run and were the first team to 20 points holding a 20-15 lead. After a sideout, Del Grande got a solo block followed by a Moreno ace to extend the advantage to six points, 22-16. Those two points were the first of the Bobcats 5-0 set ending run to extend the match. Lingenfelter scored set point with a kill out of the back row.
There were seven ties and four early lead changes in the fourth set before St. Thomas created its first separation with a 6-1 run to go up 13-8. Cole and Lingenfelter responded with a kill each and the Bobcats worked the deficit down to a pair at 14-12. Then trailing 16-13, Connors and Taylor smacked back-to-back kills to make it a one-point game. St. Thomas would score the next three points and inch closer to match point with an 8-3 run overall, going up 24-18. The Bobcats hung on for three more rallies, including with a Lingenfelter solo block, before St. Thomas eventually secured match point on a UC Merced attack error.
No. 5 St. Thomas will now play No. 4 Missouri Baptist with the winner advancing out of Pool D and into the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship semifinals.
UC Merced concludes its season with an overall record of 10-14.
CAREER NOTABLES:
Lingenfelter and Taylor both passed Chris Morikawa and Emmanuel Egun for solo blocks on Wednesday and are now tied for sixth in program history with 33 career solo blocks.
Del Grande tied Kyle Stephan for eighth all-time with 99 career blocks and tied Trevor Jurlina for tenth all-time with 26 career solo blocks. Del Grande finished the season with 56 total blocks, the most by any Bobcat since 2019.
Guglielmana tied Zach Brill for fourth in program history with 279 sets played.
Miller passed Morikawa and Matthew Pelfini for fifth all-time with 256 career sets played.
