IRVINE, Calif. --- In the second of a four-game series against Concordia University Irvine, VU men's volleyball fell 3-0 at CU Arena Saturday evening. Vanguard came within three points of claiming a stanza but ultimately surrendered the sweep with set scores of 25-18, 25-20, and 25-22. The Blue and Gold drop to 7-12 overall and 2-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Golden Eagles break a three-game losing streak to improve to 7-14 and 1-5 in league play.

Logan Finley and Peter Albert came into the lineup to lead the way for VU in the attack. Both hitters latched career-highs, with Finley supplying 10 kills and hitting .259 and Albert picking up eight kills, six digs, and a service ace.  Brock Henderson posted 27 assists, four kills, and two block assists.  Logan Freemon paired six kills with seven digs and Jacob Bayston picked up a team-best nine digs.

Vanguard improved on Thursday night's hitting percentage to strike at a rate of .239 (35-13-92) across the three sets. They did struggle, however, to replicate their serving performance with a conference-low two aces from the service line. CUI hit .367 (42-9-90) and led in block assists (14-9), digs (34-31) and assists (39-31).

What Happened? CUI hit .333 (15-4-33) and took a commanding start on a 4-1 run. The Lions netted kills from Albert and Finley and gathered two more points from Golden Eagle attacking errors to post a quick response to theh CUI salvo. Leading 6-5, CUI reopened the gap with an 8-3 run to leave VU stranded at a 14-8 deficit. A cluster of service errors from CUI brought the Lions within four (17-13) but Concordia continued to crank out runs to keep the Lions at bay. VU traded 4-3 with CUI on the set's final seven points, but the Golden Eagles walked away with a 25-18 win.

Set 2 – VU improved their hitting from the first period, but Concordia had the answers with an 80% side-out percentage to piece together a strong finish.  Like set one, Finley and Albert had the first kills for VU. The Golden Eagles maintained a steady 9-6 advantage before VU found their best run of the stanza. Finley fired a line shot past the blocks and Albert crushed his first career ace to hand the Lions an 11-10 lead. Five of the nine ties in the frame came in the following 10 points, as both teams were rooted in close range of one another. The Golden Eagles finally broke away again on a 5-1 run to go ahead 20-16. Nick Dvorak had the final Lion kill of the set, but CUI kept their rhythm to go up 2-0 in the match.

Set 3: The Lions had an opportunity to win the set, but costly errors in the final moments gave CUI the keys to success.  The Blue and Gold ripped a game-high .452 (17-3-31) in the attack to keep the pressure on the home side, but Concordia never dropped their lead. They were up by four (10-6) in the early phase of the set before Vanguard had a response with two kills from Freemon to lower the gap to 13-11. The Lions sported another 4-0 run to burst back on level terms, as combined efforts from Henderson, Finley, and Albert glued the game at 15 all. Vanguard appeared to have momentum in the latter stages of the set, as Micah Sybesma caught heat with three straight kills through the middle to help VU square the score at 22. With the game tied, VU had the serve to set themselves toward set point. Unfortunately, the Lions committed two bad sets in a row to place CUI at match point and the Golden Eagles finished the set to claim the rematch.

What's Next? The Lions will take four days to regroup before hosting CUI at the Freed Center on Thursday, March 27 at 7 pm.