COSTA MESA -- The buildup to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action continued for Vanguard men's volleyball as they faced Simpson Thursday night.  The Lions had some competition in the first and second periods but shut down the Red Hawks in the third for a sweep 25-19, 26-24, 25-13.  The Lions improved to 3-4 and Simpson dropped to 2-9.
 
What Happened?  The Lions had a Micah Sybesma kill to open the first period and strikes from Grant Dvorak and Logan Freemon kept VU a step ahead over the initial stages.  Tied at 5-5, four unanswered points by the Blue and Gold forced Simpson to take a timeout.  Though the Red Hawks responded with two points, Nick Dvorak and Phinehas Wiley swung away to push the Lions ahead by three points.  Vanguard kept the gap at four points until, ahead 20-15, a couple of errors by Simpson put Vanguard up 22-16.  Pounding kills by Freemon and an ace by Sybesma helped to close out the frame as the Lions won 25-19.  The Lions hit .409 in the period and held Simpson to a .105 rate.
 
Set 2  Freemon gave the Lions plenty of optimism at the start of the frame with two aces, but Simpson soon had it tied and that would be the theme, as the score was tied 12 times in the second.  Knoted at 16-all, the Red Hawks strung together a quick 3-0 run to get the first true separation between the sides, but a kill by Freemon and a Simpson error pulled VU to within one at 19-18.  The Red Hawks maintained the gap, forcing Vanguard to take a timeout, but a huge strike by Braddock Duckworth and another ace by Freemon helped bring the deficit to 22-20. Simpson got to set point off a kill and a service error, but Sybesma and Wiley slammed two balls to the court to put the score at 24-23.  An attacker error by Simpson tied the period at 24-24 and after one of the longest rallies of the match to that point, VU finished it off thanks to a Freemon kill and a bad set to hand the Blue and Gold a 26-24 win in the middle frame.  VU hit .143 in the frame and had a .121 rate.
 
Set 3  A double block by Sybesma and Wiley opened the third game and a pair of kill shots from Logan Finley helped VU ease out to a 4-1 edge.  Finley and Freemon threw down kills to force Simpson to call a timeout but the Blue and Gold extended the 7-2 advantage over the next few rallies, highlighted by a triple block from Nick Dvorak, Brock Henderson, and Freemon.  Simpson had little to offer as the lead grew to 16-6 off a Nick Dvorak ace and the visitors could not fight back.  The Lions held a 10-plus edge for the rest of the set and took the third 25-13 to complete the sweep.  VU hit .304 in the final frame and limited SU to a -.222 mark.
 
Vanguard hit .400 for the match with 32 kills and 11 errors on 80 swings.  Simpson had a .000 average.  Freemon paced the Lions with 10 kills and three service aces, hitting .500 for the match.  Nick Dvorak had five kills and no errors on six attempts, led VU with one solo and three block assists, and picked up two digs.  Sybesma had three kills, three block assists, and two aces, while Jacob Bayston had eight digs to tie a game-high. Henderson led the way with 19 assists.
 
 
What was Said?  "Overall, it was a good night against a very scrappy Simpson team," relayed Head Coach Brian Rofer.  "The first set we hit pretty well but struggled a bit from the service line.  The second set was a lesson in patience for us, as Simpson played great defensively and we not only struggled serving again, but also had a few unforced hitting errors and mental mistakes.  Logan (Finley) came in a made a huge difference and we were able to take the set.  Everything came together in the third set.  A good match for us leading into back-to-back matches versus Stanford."
 
 
What's Next?  The Cardinal arrive tomorrow for two games that will not count towards MPSF records, with Friday's match slated for 7:30 p.m.