We all know why we’re here and how we got here. We all know what’s at stake and what the storylines are. So it’s time to play some volleyball.
Loyola started their NCAA tournament history ignominiously, with back-to-back service errors. They were able to side out on reception in between the two, and got one on Joseph Smalzer‘s serve to be able to serve with the slender lead. A 4-3, Chris Austin went-back row with his set for Kevin Tillie, but the Frenchman ran smack into the double block to put Loyola up 2 for the first time. The Anteaters came back even at 6 when Smalzer’s right-side hit went long. It was briefly in doubt whether they’d get a touch called, but there was no call. Peter Hutz‘s serve on 7-6 was the best of the match so far, eliciting an overpass that Smalzer was only too happy to gobble up. The Ramblers did a good job of playing loose and carefree, like they had nothing to lose, which basically the case. The Anteaters brought the set back even at 11-all when the Rambler offence failed to legally return the ball, being called for 4 hits as their desperate attempts hit only the net. Jeff Patton came in as a serving sub on Loyola’s attempt at 13-12 and got one to re-establish their biggest lead of the set — 2. After a couple of sideouts, it was 15-13 Loyola at the automatic timeout, no charged timeouts having been taken beforehand.
The Anteaters got back level again at 16 with a right-side double block against Cody Caldwell. Loyola brought in Dainis Berzins to serve after siding out, and his attempt brought forth a dodgy pass by UCI libero Michael Brinkley, but Austin bailed him out with a great set to the middle. At 18-17, Smalzer’s serve caused Brinkley to overpass, leading to an easy Nick Olson kill, which in turn prompted Irvine’s timeout. But give Brinkley credit — Loyola are easily the best serving team in the tournament, so passing as well as he did was surely no small feat.
Smalzer’s first serve after the timeout was another terrific one, leading to the longest rally of the match as Irvine overpassed again, but dug Olson’s middle attack. The ball crossed the net a few times, for the first time in the match, ending with a Cody Caldwell kill that found Brinkley’s nose on its way out. Play was briefly stopped after the rally while a trickle of blood had to be cleaned off the floor, and UCI’s trainers stuffed some gauze up Brinkley’s nose. That can’t be anything close to comfortable. But give the All-American even more credit, as his first pass back led to a left-side kill for Tillie and the UCI sideout. Another kill for Tillie made it a one-point set at 20-19, prompting Loyola’s first timeout of the night.
It wasn’t long before they called their second, with the Anteaters coming up with two more to take their first lead in a while, at 21-20. A hitting miscue for Caldwell, failing to capitalise on a one-0n-one left-side matchup, and then a double block on the right-side, rejecting Smalzer, put the Anteaters on top. Caldwell got the Ramblers the sideout coming out of the Ramblers’ timeout, skillfully angling his shot to get inside the soaring triple block. An unforced error from Tillie put the Ramblers ahead again 22-21, and they reached set point first at 24-23. The Anteaters staved it off, and then dug Smalzer to lead to a Scott Kevorken kill up the middle for their own set point. Showing his great versatility, Tillie tracked down the ball in the back row, leading to a middle kill on a soft shot. UCI took a 1-nil lead with 26-24 the final in the first.
The Ramblers led most of the set, but the Anteaters came up with 9 of the final 13 points to seal it. The Anteaters hit .650 for the set, with the Ramblers coming up with just a single dig in the set. Connor Hughes, who had subbed in for starter Kyle Russell midway through set 1, remained on the court to start set 2.
Set 2 kept up the trend of the first, being tied on the first 4 numerical scores. At 4-all, UCI played an absolutely remarkable point, with Brinkley barely saving a ball from falling for an ace, Tillie scrambling to keep it alive himself, and Brinkley responding, back to the net, 20 feet off the playable court, with enough to send over a free ball. Brinkley’s effort also led to him crashing into a courtside barrier. And it was the rare instance where remarkable defence led to a point, as the Anteaters took it on serve with a Rambler hitting error. But Loyola got the point back, and ties occurred at 5 and 6, with 6-all being another notable point on the Anteater side as Hughes came up with a blind bump-set for Zack La Cavera, from quite a ways off the net, that La Cavera still used to find the floor. But the Ramblers kept siding out themselves, and an ace for Peter Hutz (the first of the night for either team) gave them a lead at 9-7. That lead was short-lived, as the Anteaters tied the match again at 10-all, and it was all sideouts again until a Rambler net fault on 13-all gave Irvine the point advantage. This held to the automatic timeout at 15-14 UCI.
It was Collin Mehring at the service line coming out of the timeout, and he gave the Anteaters their first service ace of the night and equal largest lead of the night, at 16-14. Irvine found some great transition defence again on 17-15, a sprawling dig by La Cavera keeping a ball alive and then it was Mehring finding a huge solo block up the middle that got their fans involved. This got UCI their biggest lead of the match at 3, prompting Loyola’s timeout. The block party continued, to extend UCI’s advantage to 20-16, and Loyola’s last timeout. Caldwell got the Ramblers the sideout at 20-17, but the lone attempt for serving sub Berzins went into the net. The Anteaters brought in their serving sub Travis Woloson, who seemed to disrupt the Rambler passing game. Smalzer had to deal with a pretty tight set and was blocked by Mehring. Next, Caldwell’s left-side hit flew both long and wide to put UCI up by six, and the Anteaters quickly sided Smalzer out of service to get set point at 24-18. Another hitting error by Caldwell put the Anteaters up 2-0.
There was no true ‘halftime’ for this match, as the two teams remained on court and there was only the brief interval between sets that usually happens between the other sets. And perhaps predictably, this favoured the Anteaters, as they flipped the script of the first two sets and took a quick 3-0 lead. The Ramblers got back within a point at 5-4, but the Anteaters ran out again on Tillie’s serve, the Frenchman getting his first serve of the night en route to an 8-4 Irvine lead at Loyola’s timeout. An ace for La Cavera (that I’m sure Brinkley would have tracked down) put the Anteaters up five, but Loyola responded with three straight to stay within shouting distance. At 15-12, the Anteaters sided Smalzer out after one serve. On the next rally, Mehring and La Cavera collided at the net, as one or both of them clipped the top of it for a point for the Ramblers. La Cavera was a little bit slow to get up, but both stayed in the match.
At 17-15, the Ramblers went to a serving sub Trevor Novotny, but he showed perhaps a few butterflies with a pretty blatant foot fault on service. Somehow, the Ramblers kept it close, making it back within a point at 18-17. At 21-19, with Woloson back in as a serving sub, he came with a dig that flew tight to the net for a joust between the 6-foot-3 Austin and the 6-foot-10 Olson — won by the Irvine setter. After siding out, Loyola sent Smalzer to the service line, but the Anteaters continued to pass him adeptly, and they kept him from going on a run. UCI reached match point at 24-21. After siding out, Loyola played some fine transition defence, just a total team effort, to stave off the second. The Anteaters called timeout in advance of their third match point, second on reception, with Olson on the service line.
But iced he was not, as the Ramblers took the point to stay alive and send the 3rd to extras. 24-all was the first tie of the set. The Ramblers got their first set point of the 3rd at 26-25, but the Anteaters saved that one. A service error from the Rambler side gave them another at 27-26, and a left-side kill for Hughes tied it again at 27-all. Kevorken and Austin found a big double-block on the right side to give UCI another attempt at match point, and Hughes’ 9th kill of the match sealed the deal to send Irvine back to the national championship match.
#2 UC Irvine d. #3 Loyola (26-24, 25-18, 29-27)
So I think this was probably a pretty predictable result. My pick moments before first serve was UCI in four, and the Ramblers came within a couple points of extending it to a fourth. They did a good job of playing footloose and fancy-free, but at no point did they appear to be in command. They needed to have a beastly service game to have a chance in this match, and their service numbers were pretty pedestrian — 3 aces in 3 sets. In fact, both teams had the same aces/errors ratio, 3/14.
Caldwell led the Ramblers in scoring with 12 kills, followed by Smalzer with 11. Smalzer doesn’t often hit for a high efficiency and tonight was no exception, as he finished with his 11 on 26 swings with 8 attacking errors, for just a .115 attack efficiency. Thomas Jaeschke‘s 8/2/19 night was the most efficient offensive output, and the Ramblers’ team defence certainly picked up as the match went on with them finishing at 22 digs after just 1 in the first set, but it all paled in comparison to the execution on the other side of the net. Tillie was dug only twice the whole match, finishing 14/3/19 for .579. That’s….pretty good stuff. He added 7 digs, 4 blocks, and one of his team’s three service aces. Hughes and Mehring both had 9 kills and sky-high attack-percentages too. As a team the Anteaters hit .500, 46/8/76.
I said in my preview piece that the Anteaters would have to come claim this win, and that they most certainly did. They await the winner of semifinal #2.
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