MERCED, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team tallied 52 kills on a .415 hitting percentage to beat Simpson in four sets on Friday night, winning the season opener and Chris Carter's head coaching debut by set scores of 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 25-12.
The Bobcats (1-0) .415 hitting percentage was their highest in a non-sweep since 2020, while their 52 kills marked their most in a four-set match since April 4, 2024
Jozef Lingenfelter led the Bobcats with 15 kills on a .500 success rate (15/2/26). His 15 kills tied his season-high from a year ago. Lingenfelter also had six digs and three blocks, one solo.
Mason Stokes turned in a career-high ten kills while hitting .316 to go along with a block and a service ace.
Kaleb Cole added nine kills, two service aces, and a block. The junior also maintained a .316 hitting percentage.
Toby Miller quarterbacked the offense and filled the stat sheet with 36 assists, seven digs, four kills, and three blocks. With his seven digs, Miller passed Jared Guglielmana for sixth in program history with 361 career digs. Also of note, his four kills came on seven swings without an error.
Daniel Del Grande finished with seven kills hitting .412 to go along with five blocks, one solo. His first block of the night was his 100th career block, becoming the eighth player in program history to hit the century mark in blocks.
Max Niederberger smacked five kills without an error on seven attempts.
Other notables include five digs from Pomaikainokeakua Kahaulelio, two blocks from Niederberger, and two big kills in a set from Colin Ryan.
The Bobcats scored the first four points of the night in a strong opening set. A little later, Cole delivered back-to-back service aces in the middle of a 14-4 game opening run to go up by double-digits for the first time. UC Merced led by ten points on six occasions throughout the set, including at 20-10. Simpson had a 4-0 spurt late but the Bobcats had plenty of breathing room and Cole would score set point with a kill for the 25-17 win.
After a couple early lead changes in the second set, Lingenfelter ignited a 5-0 burst to put the Bobcats up 8-4. The Bobcats lead was between 2-3 points for a while before getting the lead back to four at 19-15. After a few sideouts, the Bobcats ended the set with three straight points capped by a Lingenfelter kill to go up 2-0 in the match, winning the frame 25-19.
UC Merced's only lead in the third set was 2-1 as Simpson had a gritty frame to avoid the sweep. Simpson jumped ahead 10-5, making the Bobcats play catchup. A couple overpass kills highlighted the run of play for the Bobcats as they tried to reclaim the lead, coming within a point at 17-16. Finishing the potential sweep got harder though with the Bobcats trailing 21-17 shortly after. Del Grande got the Bobcats within a point at 23-22 and 24-23 before falling 25-23.
UC Merced finished the victory in the fourth set by hitting an astonishing .652 (16/1/23). Lingenfelter had three kills in the first seven rallies as the Bobcats led 6-1. A Lingenfelter solo block extended the lead to seven points at 9-2. A little later, the Bobcats pulled away for good with another 6-1 run and all six of the points came via the kill to go up 19-7. UC Merced's biggest lead of the set was 14 points, 23-9 after a Del Grande kill. A Simpson service error ended the match shortly after.
The match had 47 service errors overall. The Bobcats only committed two receive errors.
Also of note, UC Merced totaled 8.5 blocks and limited Simpson to just a .106 hitting percentage. The Bobcats limited Simpson to a negative hitting percentage in sets one and four.
Achilles Huang, Sean Ethan Blas, and Joel Toves made their collegiate debut.
Up next, UC Merced will host La Sierra on Saturday, January 24 at 7:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.
