WEST DES MOINES, Iowa. -- The 2023 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Tournament opened with an emphatic victory for the Vanguard Lions Tuesday. A year removed from a bitter end to their title bid, the Blue and Gold were focused and slowly built impetus, eventually sweeping Jamestown 25-22, 25-21, and 25-16. The Lions now sit at 17-5 overall and are in the driver's seat in Pool B.
What Happened? The Jimmies put down five points in a row to start the match, making the Vanguard faithful a bit uneasy.
Tanner Woods put down the first kill for the Lions to make the score 5-1 but a three-to-four-point gap remained as the frame moved along. Down 14-9,
Valesis Vaisuai spiked a ball to the deck and the kill seemed to unlock the rest of the VU attack. A 6-2 stretch allowed the Lions to knot the score at 16-all and a few rallies later, UJ committed four-straight errors to send Vanguard ahead 21-18. The team did not want to waste such an opportunity and the Lions closed out the set from thre. Another kill from Vaisuai made it 24-21 and an attack error by the Jimmies allowed the Lions to win the period 25-22. Despite the early surge from Jamestown, both teams did not hit well in the first. VU led the way with a .100 mark and UJ was next at a .088 clip.
Both teams eliminated some hitting errors in round two, with UJ hitting .471 and the Lions putting up a .421 rate, even though both sides had 11 total kills in the second set.
Kyle Anema struck first to put Vanguard on the board and both sides exchanged points from there. A kill from
Cody Watts tied the score at 5-5 and a dump from
Ryan Smith would tie things at 6-6. Eventually, the match would be all square at 9-9 and an attack error sent the Blue and Gold ahead 10-9. The scales had tilted and there was no going back, as VU dashed ahead by three points, with a kill from Vaisuai and an ace from Anema helping the count to favor the Lions. The Jimmies ended the short run with a timeout and got the advantage down to a single point two times, but they could not tie the match again. Anema had two more kills down the stretch and strikes from
Will Anderson and
Cody Watts put the set out of reach, as VU won 25-20.
The third frame looked like it would be close throughout, as both sides traded points early on. However, as the set continued, the Lions hit their stride and the Jimmies could not keep up. Vanguard led the entire period, with the only tie coming at 1-1. Anema then threw down a ball to put the Lions up 2-1 and VU held a slim lead over the next few rallies. Ahead 9-7, VU ran off a 9-4 run to take an 18-11 lead, causing UJ to call both of its timeouts.
Andrew Sheveland picked up his first kill as a Lion during that stretch and he and
Matthew Roussin got the final two kills for Vanguard, as the squad won the set 25-16 and the match 3-0. The Lions hit a blistering .536 in the third set, with 15 kills and no errors on 28 attempts. UJ hit .375 in the third.
Vanguard hit .338 in the match, holding the Jimmies to a .267 clip. VU held the advantage in aces 8-2 wnr was tied with UJ in digs with 24, but the Jimmies had more total blocks. Anema was in good form for the match, smashing down 12 kills to earn a .348 attack percentage for the match. Watts was second in kills with six and Vaisuai had five. Both Anema and Anderson had three aces and
Ryan Jew and Roussin tied the game-high dig mark of six. Smith had 26 assists for the squad.
Why is it Important? The Lions had played Jamestown once before, back in March of 2020, losing that game 3-1. With the series now level, VU can see what develops between the Jimmies and Grand View (Iowa) tomorrow knowing that a win over the Vikings on Friday will book VU into the semifinals.
What was Said? "This is a good team," relayed Head Coach
Brian Rofer. "We started out slow but that is to be expected at the beginning of a National Tournament during pool play. Jamestown was different then what we have faced this year, in both style and size. But we started to get in our rhythm as the match developed and we began to produce closer to our averages.
Andrew Sheveland came in and played really well and I was glad we could get him some high-pressure playing time, and he delivered.
Matthew Roussin also played well and picked up some big digs in the third. The team emerged and looked good but we can't really celebrate this win as normal. One down, three to go."
What's Next? 11:00 a.m. PST on Thursday will see Grand View and VU square off for the second time this year. The home faithful will certainly pack out the RecPlex for GV and Bayron Valdez had a game-high 26 kills against VU out in California. Anema and Anderson had 16 and 13 kills respectively and seven total blocks for Smith and Vaisuia helped the Lions win 3-1.
