This is the first of potentially three write-ups tonight, as later this evening out of Hawaii comes the Warriors’ match with Cal State Northridge, a matchup I’ve really been looking forward to. In between the two is the #1 vs. #2 matchup between UCI and BYU. A busy night indeed!
But we start off this evening with a little MIVA action. I did cover Grand Canyon once before, but this is my first look at the Volleydons of IPFW this season. Theirs is one of the most long-standing men’s volleyball programs in America. Their longtime coach is Arnie Ball, a legend in the sport having coached at IPFW for more than 30 years. You may have heard of his son, former Team USA setter Lloy Ball (makes me wonder if the birth certificate wasn’t just misspelled or something). The Mastodons are led by a Puerto Rican core, with setter Omar Rivera and outside hitter Eddie Rivera (no relation) leading their attack. Their main libero is another Puerto Rican, Luis Bertran, and middle blocker Ramon Burgos also gets consistent playing time. Outside hitter Kevin Villela, a Glendale native, got a nice cheer from the fans during pre-match intros. The match had a certain significance to the standings in the MIVA, as both teams entered with identical 3-3 conference records, but all 8 teams in the MIVA play the conference tournament anyway, and it’s a bit early yet to be thinking about seeding.
It was mostly sideout after sideout to begin the first set, with Grand Canyon taking one on serve with a soft roll shot off Ponnet’s hand to take the tiniest of advantages. They went up two for the first time either side had at 7-5. They extended the lead to three on the next point with a solo block from Ryan Mather, and then to four at 9-5 on a long hit from Andy Sellan. The Antelopes doubled them up at 10-5 with Eddie Rivera’s hit going into the net, and Coach Ball called time. IPFW got the sideout with a kill from Sellan, as they were again able to set the offense for the first time in a while. The Mastodons gave one away on 10-6 as Gerrard Lipscombe‘s hit went well long, but Rob Samp was called for a net violation.
The Mastodons left just two players in service reception formation when Antelope setter Keith Smith rotated back to serve, but they still were unable to set an effective offense. A mini-run on Smith’s serve, fueled by front-line blocking, got them to 16-10, and it was pretty clear which side was in control. Villela’s serve on 17-12 was sort of embarrassing, as not only were IPFW called for a foot fault, the serve also went straight into the net. No chance either way. At 18-13, it was left to Sellan to try to set from right-back, and his attempt was pretty pitiful, giving the outside hitter no real chance, as it grazed the net in flight. The Antelopes jumped for a block attempt, but didn’t need to. Mather gave the Antelopes their biggest lead of the set at 21-14 with a big kill and block, and then an ace for Lipscombe made it 22-14 and IPFW’s second timeout. Samp got the Mastodons the sideout off the block and out, but it was far too little too late. The Antelopes finished the set off 25-18, with Ponnet finishing off a long rally with a crosscourt kill, his fifth of the set.
Grand Canyon hit .522 for the first set, to .242 for IPFW, and out-blocked them 5.5 to zero. That’s pretty dominant, but interestingly most of the scoring margin came from two runs amidst otherwise pretty straight sideout volleyball.
Neither side made any lineup changes in advance of set 2. IPFW played a smart point on the first ball of the 2nd, twice being blocked at the net and barely keeping the ball alive, as they tried to crush the ball, only to get the kill on a roll shot by Anthony Randolph. From 2-2, the Mastodons ran off three straight to take their first real lead of the night at 5-2, before Ponnet stopped the run with a left-side kill. At 6-3, Christian Ward‘s hit went wide for Grand Canyon, and the IPFW team celebrated like they’d won the point, but a touch was called, giving Ward the kill. I expected at least a little bit of an argument, but there wasn’t one. The Antelopes ran back even at 6 with an ace from Ward, and then Lipscombe’s kill gave them their first lead of the set. After another ace from Ward to put Grand Canyon back up 2, Coach Ball called time again.
IPFW got the sideout coming out of the timeout, but struggled to make a sustained charge. Smith’s left-side tip put the Antelopes up three for the first time in the set, at 10-7, and then a wide hit for the Mastodons put Grand Canyon up four. At 11-8, an IPFW front-line player made a block attempt with his face (unintentionally to be sure), but he got no satisfaction for it as Mather got the kill for the Antelopes. Grand Canyon came up with a triple-block that got the crowd very excited, to go back up three at 14-11. From 16-13, there was a pretty dramatic swing as Christian Ward’s serve went into the net and Eddie Rivera’s landed in for IPFW’s first ace, bringing IPFW back to within a point.
At 18-16, Grand Canyon libero Trent Bruns nearly found a wayward ball, but it ricocheted off him and out — nearly hitting the courtside camera. From 18-17, Grand Canyon took three straight to go up four again, the run including an attacking error from Randolph and a double-hit fault from IPFW setter Omar Rivera. IPFW again got the sideout after the timeout, with one of their better serve receptions enabling Omar Rivera to set Burgos out of the middle. Two points later, Mather had the answer and how to bring Grand Canyon within three points of victory in the set. IPFW got the block against Ponnet, who had a much harder second set than he did first, but Smith’s perfect dump shot brought it to 23-20. The Antelopes gained set point on an IPFW hitting error. A net violation from Robbie Brannick staved off one set point for the Mastodons. Ponnet converted on the second opportunity with a bizarre shot as he ran toward the ball laterally and basically just jabbed at it. Not sure how it fell in, but it did.
Omar Rivera started the 3rd set off well for the Mastodons, with a perfect dump shot to get the first point and then a solo block for the second — and he was clearly excited about the latter. The Antelopes drew even at 2, but then IPFW came up with three straight, the run ending with a service ace for Burgos. The Mastodos thought they had a fourth straight, but were called for a net violation. Mather’s service attempt after the sideout went about 12 feet long. That’d be a huge momentum killer — if Omar Rivera’s subsequent serve weren’t even worse. At 7-5, Eddie Rivera came up with a service ace off the libero Bruns, which the commentator (a GCU guy) claimed was the first time he’d seen that this season. The Antelopes chipped away at the lead, tying the set again at 10 on a right-side double block, but IPFW responded with three straight, the run ending with a block of Mather for the first time all night.
It was a long stretch of sideout after sideout for a while after, with IPFW either leading by one or two, until a solo block for Brannick brought the set even at 17. Ward’s subsequent jump-float serve went straight into the net, and on 18-17 Grand Canyon were called for interference to put IPFW again up two. On 19-18, the Antelopes almost had the answer for Eddie Rivera’s setter dump, but they were just a split-second late. On 20-18, serving sub JW Kiekhefer let loose a beauty that got Grand Canyon out of system, though it took a long rally for IPFW to win the point. Down three, Grand Canyon called time for the first time all night. Grand Canyon did not get a sideout coming out of the timeout, as IPFW got their sixth block of the set against Lipscombe to go up four and all but surely stave off the sweep. Burgos served IPFW’s first set point at 24-19, but the ball sailed long. No matter — they finished it off with a crosscourt Eddie Rivera kill to force a 4th set.
Ponnet started at the service line for Grand Canyon in set 4. His first, usual, heavy serve got the Mastodons out of system, leading to a Jordon Tarantino kill, Tarantino in for the 4th set. On his second serve, he puzzlingly tried for a jump-float, that failed to clear the net. The teams continued from there to trade points for a long while. 4-4 was easily the longest point of the match, ending with a kill from the middle for Bryan Saunders for IPFW. The crowd loudly applauded the point, even though it wound up being won by the road team. Or maybe the crowd mics were by IPFW’s traveled fans, I dunno. Grand Canyon went up 2 for the first time either side did in the 4th at 8-6, following two Mastodon errors. Ponnet found a touch on a long hit to put the Antelopes ahead 9-6. On the next ball, IPFW got a very good pass and set, but Sellan’s hit went well long, with no touch called, to put Grand Canyon up 10-6. IPFW called time there.
After having sided out after every previous timeout in this match, the Mastodons weren’t able to do it this time, as their right-side roll shot was returned to sender, putting the Antelopes up five. They finally did side out at 11-7, but two points later they wound up being called for yet another violation, putting the Antelopes up six. 14-9 was another long rally, with Grand Canyon’s Ward being put through the paces a bit, running all over the court to track down wayward balls and showing off some pretty soft hands for a big man, making perfectly solid out-of-system sets. IPFW got that point but they didn’t make any inroads into the lead. Smith’s dink shot gave Grand Canyon their biggest lead of the set at 18-11. It was sideout after sideout until Tarantino’s ace at 23-16, to give the Antelopes match point.
Grand Canyon d. IPFW (25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-17)
Honestly I’m a tad surprised it wasn’t a sweep. Grand Canyon looked like well the better team most of the way. IPFW finished with 7 team blocks, but 6 of them came in one set — the third, the one set they won. Grand Canyon’s 14 total blocks (a pretty good number for 4 sets) were a little more evenly distributed. At no point did they really look in jeopardy. There were a few stretches of sideout after sideout after sideout in this match, and really, most of the 3rd set was that way. IPFW just came up with a few timely blocks and mini-runs to edge ahead.
Ponnet led the way with 17 kills for the Antelopes, hitting .438 for the match. Sellan was the Mastodons’ leading scorer, notching 13 kills, but he also had 8 errors for just a .147 efficiency. IPFW hit just .208 for the match to Grand Canyon’s .366, though as mentioned, blocks were the real story. Grand Canyon had only 12 attack errors for the whole match and none at all in the fourth set.
Same two teams tomorrow night, and no reason to think there won’t be the same result.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
