VOLLEYBALL (M)

3/25/10 - Brazilians Lead Comeback As Royals Shake Rust

By Tim Gooszen

Fullerton, CA- Having not in played in almost two weeks showed as Hope International was sluggish and lost the first set to Johnson & Wales on Thursday night.  But the Royals shook off the rust and won the next three sets to win the match 3-1 (31-33, 30-23, 30-20, 30-23).  Senior Alex Figueiredo had 23 kills and Junior Danilo Pereira passed out 57 assists.

The first set started with both teams earning three points each.  That was a sign of things to come as the opening set featured 12 ties and 3 lead changes.  By the end of the set, the Royals (9-8) still had a chance to win even though they committed 13 errors and hit just .122 as they led 29-26.  But the Wildcats (12-9) would not give up and forced the set to go extra points before they pulled out the win.  JWU closed out the set on a 7-2 run. 

Figueiredo had a set high 6 kills but also committed 4 errors.  He had just two more errors the rest of the match.  Junior Brett Massetti had four of his nine kills in set number one.

Johnson & Wales took the first point in the second set but Hope International responded right back and took the lead.  The Royals allowed just two ties the remainder of the set with the last one coming at 13-13.  A service error by the Wildcats put the lead back in the Royals favor and HIU took off from there.  Figueiredo had 8 kills in the set.  As a team, the Royals hit .500 for the set.

Set three saw six ties and three lead changes all in the first 14 points of the set.  With the score tied 7-7, Sophomore Kaimi Guerreiro pounded one home to give the Royals an 8-7 lead.  They would not relinquish the lead the rest of the set.  Defense was the key for the Royals as four of their eight blocks for the match came in the third set.  Massetti was involved in all four blocks- he recorded three of them one on one.

The Wildcats recorded a block on Guerreiro to open the fourth and final set.  After three ties, Freshman Bernard Luna buried one of his 9 kills for the match to give the Royals a 4-3 lead.  From that point on, it was full steam ahead as the Royals cruised to the finish line and won the match.  Guerreiro had 6 of his 13 kills in the final set.

Defensively, Senior Noah Casaquit had 14 digs on the night.

On Saturday, the Royals will host Holy Names at 7:00 pm in the Darling Pavilion.

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