FULLERTON, Calif. - The fifth-ranked Vanguard University Men's Volleyball team (5-2, 2-0) would travel to take on (RV) Hope International University (3-2, 0-2) in what would be their fourth opponent receiving votes in the NAIA Top-25 poll in their last five contests. After dropping the first set, the Lions turned it on and took three straight sets to earn a 3-1 victory: 23-25, 25-22, 25-20,

What Happened? The Pride had a hard time finding the playing surface early on as they recorded three service errors early in the first set. With things knotted up at 14, Matthew Roussin (JR/Anaheim Hills, CA) would watch his serve slam into hardwood and Cody Watts (SO/Clovis, CA) would find the floor as well for a kill as the Lions took a 16-14 lead. Hope International would fight back and develop a two-point lead of their own late in the set, earning the first game from a kill from Chase Larson.

Early in the second set, three consecutive attacking errors by Hope International would force a timeout as the Pride opened up with a 7-4 advantage. The Lions would press the advantage, going on an 11-4 run to take control of the second set. With the Lions up 21-12, the Royals fought back to cut their deficit to two late in the set, but a kill from Kyle Anema (JR/La Mirada, CA) would end the comeback attempt and tie things up at one set apiece. Vanguard would hit .435 in the second with 12 kills and only two errors. 

The Lions would get off to a great start in the third set as they jumped out to a 6-2 advantage early on before the Royals battled back to tie things up at 11. Glen Linden (FR/Newport Beach, CA)'s kill would kickstart another mini-run for the Lions as they went on a 6-1 run to go up 17-12. After hitting .407 in the first set, the Royals came down to earth and their .267 mark in the second and .286 mark in the third would limit their offensive attack as the Lions took the third set 25-20. Vanguard would record their highest hitting percentage of the contest in the fourth set (.455) as they were able to run away with things in the fourth to earn a 3-1 victory over the Royals. 

Why It's Important? The Lions moved to 4-0 all-time against the Royals and 2-0 on the year. This game was extremely similar to the first matchup between these two teams as in both cases, the Royals took the first set before the Lions rattled off three sets in a row to take the match 3-1. 

Top Performers: Currently Kyle Anema ranks seventh in the NAIA in kills per game (4.18), while Bryce Thompson (JR/Los Alamitos, CA) ranks second in assists per game (10.64). They would continue their stellar form tonight as Anema recorded 26 kills on a .581 hitting percentage to go with a team-high nine digs while Thompson distributed 49 assists. Cody Watts had a ridiculous night at the net as he recorded 10 blocks which would be a career-high for the sophomore middle blocker. 

What They Said: "As a team, we started off really slow but as the game continued on our blocking defense got a lot better and our side out scoring was also high tonight," said Anema. "Overall a good win as a team tonight and the coaches put in a good game plan for us!"

What's Next: The Lions will head back home to the Pit to take on Hope International for the second of a six-game series on Wednesday, February 24th at 7:00 p.m.

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