VOLLEYBALL (M)

4/3/10 - Royals Hold Off Wolves- Nationals Here They Come

By Tim Gooszen
Photo by Liza Rosales

Fullerton, CA- In a Saturday matinee, #2 Hope International and #3 Cardinal Stritch met for the second time in as many days.  The first set was a blowout by the Royals but the match became tighter from there on as the Royals rallied late in the third set to pull off the 3-0 win (30-19, 30-24, 36-34).  Senior Alex Figueiredo was the only Royal with more than seven kills as he finished the day with 17 kills.

Senior Cory Hindemit opened the match with a thundering kill and the Royals (12-8) never looked back in the first set.  The Wolves (22-10) forced just two ties with the last coming at 5-5.  Eventually the Royals built an 11 point lead which proved to be the difference in the score at the end.  Hindemit and Figueiredo, pictured- swinging, both completed the opening set with 4 kills.

Neither team had a sparkling hitting set as the Royals hit just .128 and the Wolves ended at .036.

The Royals took the early lead in the second set and built as big as a six point lead at 21-15.  But point 21 was not kind to the Royals as they allowed the Wolves to use a 7-0 run to actually take the lead. 

However, Sophomore Kaimi Guerreiro finally ended the run with a kill to tie the set at 22-22.  Guerreiro and Junior Jordan Doolittle combined for a block to give the Royals back the lead- for good.  In fact, the Royals closed out the set on an 8-2 run.  The Royals hit .281 for the set which turned out to be a set high by either team for the match.

Doolittle had three kills in the set while Figueiredo added four more.

The first three points of the third set proved to be a foreshadowing of the end of the set and match.  Cardinal Stritch opened with a kill, followed by a service error (tie), and then a kill from the Royals (lead change).  There would be 14 ties and 7 lead changes in the set.

A kill by Scott Golden would give the Wolves a 9-8 lead which they would eventually turn into a 24-19 lead.  After a Hope International timeout, the Royals would use an 8-3 run to pull the set even at 27-27 which forced Cardinal Stritch to burn a timeout.

One of nine third set kills by Figueiredo brought the Royals their first opportunity to close out the match at 29-28. In the end, the Royals had five match points while the Wolves themselves actually had three opportunities at set point but failed to capitalize and force a fourth set.  The final two points of the match for the Royals came on a service error and attack error by the Wolves.

Defense was the name of the match for the Royals as they executed 15 total blocks- a season high for a three set match.  Doolittle produced the lone solo block for the Royals on his way to seven total blocks.  Figueiredo added six.

Interesting note- 10 different Royals recorded a kill.  Juniors Andrew Marques and Danilo Pereira, who both basically played a set and a half, dished out 18 and 17 assists respectively.

With last night’s win, the Royals guaranteed themselves a spot in the NAIA National Invitational Tournament which will be played in Davenport, IA, starting on April 22 at St. Ambrose University.  With today’s win, the Royals have guaranteed themselves no lower than the #2 seed at the tournament.

The last opportunity for the Royals to improve on their ranking for the tournament will come on Wednesday when the Royals meet up with #1 California Baptist in Riverside.  First serve is scheduled for 7:00 pm.

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