VOLLEYBALL (M)

2/10/10 - Thriller in Fullerton

By Tim Gooszen

Fullerton, CA- In the most anticipated match of the season up to this point, #3 Hope International and #1 California Baptist did not disappoint the fans as they played a five set thriller on Wednesday night.  Much to the disappointment of the Royals, the Lancers carried a fourth set comeback into a fifth win- 3-2 (32-34, 30-21, 25-30, 30-28, 15-12).  Senior Alex Figueiredo led the attack for the Royals with 24 kills on 52 attempts (.346).

The first set laid the ground work for the rest of the exciting match.  The set featured numerous ties and lead changes and saw the Royals (5-3) hit .310 while the Lancers (10-4) hit .288.   Two Lancers combined for 18 kills which was one more than the Royals as a team had in the first set.  Figueiredo and Junior Brett Massetti each recorded four kills.

Strong serving from the Lancers in the second set put the pressure on the Royals as they managed to hit just .118.  With the set tied at 13-13, the Lancers would serve 15 of the next 19 serves en route to building an eight point lead.  Figueiredo once again managed 4 kills.

A back and forth early part of the third set found the score knotted at 9-9.  A kill by Freshman Johannes Fuchs gave the Royals a 10-9 lead.  From there, Hope International would build a six point lead on two different occasions and though the Lancers would climb back within two the Royals would not relinquish the lead the remainder of the set.  Fuchs finished with four third set kills while Figueiredo chipped in six more.

In fourth set, the Royals built a six point lead three times with the final time coming at the 20-14 differential.  Just when thoughts of completing the upset started to enter into the Royals’ minds, back stormed the Lancers.  CBU closed out the set on a 16-8 run to win the fourth set and swing the momentum back in their favor.  Blocking was a big part of the Lancers’ success as they denied six Royal attacks in the set.

The fifth and final set  saw the Lancers take the early lead and not give the Royals a chance to take back the lead as they smoked out a .455 hitting set to take the match.

On the night, the one area that the Royals outdid the Lancers was digging (62-58).  Sophomore Kaimi Guerreiro led the Royals with 17 digs.  Junior Setter Danilo Pereira was actually second on the Royals with 12 digs.

Pereira also passed out 60 assists.

Next up for the Royals is a trip to Hawaii to play two matches against the University of Hawaii on February 18 and 19.

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