COSTA MESA  -- It was a shocking reverse sweep by the visiting Menlo Oaks that denied Vanguard an inaugural Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win Friday night.  VU men's volleyball team had put the Oaks away easily in the first, but MC began to show up in the second and arrived over the final three sets to take the win by set scores of 15-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-17, 15-10.  The Lions dropped to 0-3 in the MPSF and 5-9 overall, while the Oaks improved to 6-7 overall and grabbed the first MPSF win in Menlo history (1-0).
 
What Happened?  It was a VU feast in set one, as the Lions had a perfect 14 kills off 14 swings to take the period 25-15.  Nick Dvorak struck for the first kill and then delivered an ace to put the Blue and Gold ahead 2-0. Menlo kept it close over the next few rallies but a 7-2 run that started with a booming kill by Logan Freemon brought some true separation between the two sides.  Micah Sybesma and Freemon planted aces during the run that saw the VU advantage blossom at 11-6.  The Lions pulled away more over the middle stages to lead 20-11 and the squad got to match point via a block by Sybesma and Brock Henderson.  A Henderson dump followed to claim the set for Vanguard at 25-15, and though Menlo lost by 10, the Oaks hit .375 in the period.
 
Set 2: Dvorak struck again for a kill on the first rally and a 4-2 stretch followed, powered by slams from Phinehas Wiley, to open a 5-2 lead for the Lions.  Another 4-0 stretch took the edge from 10-7 to 14-7, with Dvorak and Logan Finley combining for a block and Freemon slapping down another ace to double up the Oaks.  Vanguard was in front 18-12 after a Sybesma strike, but Menlo deployed a 7-1 stanza after that to knot the score at 19-19.  The two teams exchanged points from there, with four more ties coming in rapid succession.  Even at 23-all, back-to-back errors by the Oaks handed the Blue and Gold set two 25-23.  Vanguard hit .357 in the second set and limited Menlo to a team-low .182 rate.
 
Set 3: The visitors began to match the Lions in terms of energy and urgency in the third and swatted in the first three points of the period.  Dvorak swiped an ace to record the first offensive point for the Lions, but the squad would trail by four through the first portion of the period.  Sybesma and Wiley made a block to return the gap to three (7-4), but a 6-3 stretch for MC saw the Oaks climb to a 13-7 advantage.  Undeterred, Vanguard hung nine of the next 10 points on the board, with Wiley throwing down three kills and a block assist during that span.  Ahead 16-14, VU and MC exchanged two-point runs and Vanguard crossed the 20-point threshold first on a Wiley ace.  The Lions were narrowly in pole position at 23-22, but Menlo stole the show with four of the next five points to claim the set 26-24. VU hit .148 and Menlo increased to a .235 mark.
 
Set 4:  Wiley registered another kill to cut the early deficit down to 2-1 and he and Sybesma soon combined for another rejection to tie things at 3-3.  An MC error and a Freemon strike gave Vanguard its only two leads of the set at 4-3 and 5-4, but it was mostly Menlo after that.  A 6-1 interval gave the visitors a 10-6 lead and though VU trimmed the gap to 11-10 off a Freemon ace, MC outscored the Lions 14-7 the rest of the way to win 25-17.  Menlo hit .370 in the fourth to force a deciding set, while VU hit a match-low .038.
 
Set 5:  Seven ties over the first stage of the final frame meant no team had a true grasp on the match when the teams switched sides.  Grant Dvorak got the first VU kill and Sybesma had a brace over the next three rallies,  but the slim two-point lead for VU (5-3) was quickly erased by the Oaks.  VU got to eight points first off a service error, but after the sides flipped, Menlo flipped their switch on.  The Oaks got away with being out of rotation as part of an 8-2 streak to take the fifth 15-10.  Menlo had nine kills and one error on 17 swings for a .471 hitting percentage in the fifth, with Vanguard netting a .316 mark.
 
VU had a better hitting percentage than MC at the end of the night (.307-.299) but MC had a 57-51 edge in kills.  Menlo led in aces 10-8 and assists 54-48, but the Blue and Gold held its own with an 11-7 lead in blocks and a 43-42 edge in digs.  Wiley paced VU with 12 kills and hit .212 in the match.  Sybesma was next with 11 kills and her had two errors on 15 attacks to garner a .600 attack rate for the night.  Finley had eight kills and Freemon seven.  Brock Henderson had four kills and 37 helpers on the night and Jacob Bayston had 13 digs to lead all players.  Sybesma had a career-high nine block assists and Wiley was not far behind with a career-high of five.  Both Nick Dvorak and Freemon had three aces to pace the Lions.
 
Why is it Important?  Menlo took the first-ever meeting in the history of the matchup but the Lions were victorious in the past seven.  It is the second reverse sweep on the books, as VU pulled off the feat at MC to claim a Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title on March 26, 2022.
 
What's Next?  The Blue and Gold will hope to take their first MPSF game tomorrow against the Oaks, with the game starting at 2:00 p.m.