VOLLEYBALL (M)

3/1/10 - Royals Stumble in the Desert

By Tim Gooszen

Phoenix, AZ- On Monday, the #2 Royals found themselves at Grand Canyon to play two matches.  Their first match of the day pitted them against #3 Clarke (IA) and though the Royals lost in three (30-28, 31-29, 30-28) it was by the fewest points possible throughout.  Later in the day, Hope International fell to Grand Canyon 3-1 (30-21, 30-26, 26-30, 36-34).  Junior Brett Massetti had a team high 24 kills combined in the two matches.

Though only 16 people were listed as witnesses for match one on the day, the Royals and the Crusaders put on quite a show as the match featured 30 ties and 12 lead changes.  Overall, the Royals struggled to find a hitting groove as they managed just a .136 hitting percentage.

Massetti was on in the middle as he recorded 14 kills on 22 attempts with just 3 errors for the match (.500).  He was also credited with 5 blocks including one solo.

Freshman Bernard Luna recorded 7 kills but no other Royal had over 4 kills.

The Royals did produce 52 digs with 9 each coming from Senior Noah Casaquit and Sophomore Henry Valiente.

In the second match against the Antelopes, the Royals found a much more fluid hitting groove as they finished with a .253 average which includes hitting .378 in the third set which they happened to win.

Senior Alex Figueiredo displayed an all round strong match with a team high 17 kills to go along with 6 digs and 4 solo blocks.  Freshman Johannes Fuchs chipped in with 12 kills while hitting .348.

Junior Andrew Marques had 50 of his 59 assists for the day in the set second match of the day.

One stat that is not very common was the fact that the Royals had more solo blocks (9) than block assists (8).

On Tuesday, the Royals (5-7) will try and regroup as they face the same two teams again.  This time however they will meet up with Grand Canyon (6-14) first.  They will then face off with Clarke (14-3) before heading home.

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