COSTA MESA – Men's volleyball closed out the regular season series with UC Merced this Saturday, taking down the visiting Bobcats in straight sets (26-24, 25-18, 25-19) to mark back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The Blue and Gold improve to 6-11, 2-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. VU also keeps its undefeated record against the Bobcats at 7-0 in the all-time series. UCM shifts to 3-11, 0-6, and suffers its eighth straight loss for the first time since 2015.

Grant Veldman had the game-high 15 kills, hitting .355 (15-4-31). He also scooped up nine digs and finished with a career best five blocks. Cole Oliver made it five successive games with double-digit kills, netting 11 kills, one ace, and four digs. Braddock Duckworth overcame a slow start to roll out a career-best nine kills, also adding two block assists. Setter Willy Wang had a game-high 39 dimes.

What Happened? Unlike last night's matchup at the Freed Center, UCM came out strong in the first frame. They would close the match with fewer attack errors than VU, but were still outpaced .337 (45-14-92) to .195 (29-12-87) at the game's conclusion.

Veldman had the game's first point, followed by a Freemon ace to set up a 5-1 Lion lead. The Bobcats started putting together a run with a block, ace, and first kill on their seventh point, putting the score to 10-7 Vanguard. The Lions' next push came with four points unanswered and a pair of kills from Veldman (15-8 Vanguard).

Vanguard's sloppy seven attack errors to UCM's three in the period game gave the Bobcats a lifeline to pull their way back. They charged out to a 5-0 push and added another ace to come within three (16-13 VU). The Lions maintained a two-to-three-point lead heading into the red zone before UCM struck again. VU suffered three errors to highlight the 4-0 Bobcat run and level the score at 21-all.

The Lions required a timeout to regroup, and despite a narrow finish, it was Veldman who proved the difference maker. The transfer had nine kills in the set and coined all three of VU's remaining kills in the period to seize a 26-24 win.

Set 2 Vanguard maintained a +.200 hitting percentage in the second set, while UCM dipped to a match-low clip at .071 (8-6-28). Both teams were equal in errors (6) and attempts (28), but VU had an edge in kills (13-8).

Oliver scored down the line to get VU on the board. His next kill came after four UCM errors as Oliver tagged a kill and ace to put the Lions up 9-4. After a few empty swings, Duckworth started getting warm midway through the set. The Bobcat block, which did well clogging the right pin, had a hard time dealing with middle in the front row, as Duckworth delivered two kills to end a 7-5 exchange and trigger the media timeout 15-9. The remainder of the frame had a more even scoring split at 10-8 Vanguard, but the Lion damage was done to keep a wide Bobcat deficit.
Among the VU highlights in the final phase of scoring was a Micah Sybesma and Oliver double block, Freemon's third ace of the contest, and an Oliver breach from the outside to end the stanza 25-18.

Set 3 The concluding set featured the highest hitting percentages of the afternoon with UCM clipping a .296 (11-3-27) mark, while the Blue and Gold errored just once to boast a .600 (16-1-25) firing rate. Duckworth also had six of his nine kills in the period.

UC Merced led the way this time with a 5-2 start and closed out with an ace. VU got their middles involved with Sybesma and Duckworth connecting for the next three Lion points. Both teams traded a surge of service errors and a series of ties locked the score at 16-all. The middle dominance from VU continued to be a factor, as Sybesma got a piece of a double block and Merced coughed up a bad set to keep the score tight at 17 a piece.

The set-winning run was an 8-2 burst from Vanguard, led by Oliver and Duckworth, who combined for five kills late. The Bobcats ultimately had a hard time siding out to place fate back in their hands, and VU capitalized on their openings with an Oliver kill to seal the deal for back-to-back wins.

What's Next? The Lions take a road trip to Rocklin for their first match with Jessup, scheduled for Friday, the 27th, at 7 p.m.