ATHERTON, Calif. – Men's volleyball (10-13, 6-6) recovered after a tight set three loss to eventually claim the win over Menlo (3-17, 2-9), in a 3-1 result (25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 25-16) at Haynes Prim-Pavillion Saturday afternoon. Grant Veldman led the charge with a career-high in kills (18) and digs (14) for his second double double of the season. The transfer also hit .412 (18-4-34), marking the sixth time this year the outside has swung .400 or higher. Willy Wang was the primary passer with a career-best 52 assists, with two aces and six digs.

Veldman was not alone in the scoring efforts, as Logan Freemon and Cole Oliver each had 12 kills, with the trio's combined 42 kills tying their second-highest combined haul of the season. Micah Sybesma added eight kills, three blocks, and two aces. Braddock Duckworth had seven kills, four block assists, and just one attack error. Libero Jacob Bayston had a season-high 13 digs.

As a unit, VU hit .390 (59-13-118), marking the highest hitting percentage and most kills since 2026 opening night against Rockhurst, when they hit .485 (62-13-101). Menlo hit .220 (45-18-123), which was their highest clip since late February. The Lions steered the ship in the remaining major statistical categories: aces (8-3), blocks (9-5), assists (56-43), and digs (51-40).

What Happened? Both teams snipped just three attack errors, but Vanguard managed to outhit the Oaks .400 (15-3-30) to .310 (12-3-29) to start the match. The Oaks led 3-2 in blocks but could not tank VU's service pressure in a 4-0 VU lead in aces.

The Lions led 4-1, thanks to two MC attack errors and a Freemon ace. Their first kills of the day came from a pair of points from Oliver, while Menlo enjoyed three VU service errors in the early stages for a 6-5 VU score. After the streak of errors, the offenses got rolling with VU tacking another ace and three kills, while the Oaks went on a 4-0 to level the score at 10-all and force VU's first timeout.

That was the only tie of the set, and VU would never trail the rest of the way. Veldman had his first ace of the contest, and VU mounted a 6-2 run to lead 16-12. The Oaks never got closer than three points, with Wang's ace among the highlights to win the frame.

Set 2 The Lions issued 17 kills in the next set on the back of a .412 hitting percentage (17-3-34). Menlo hit .233 (11-4-30) and remained without a service ace as the Lions led once again in the metric 2-0.

It was all square over the first eight combined points of the set, but VU finally inched away on a 5-0 run to go up 9-5. Veldman had two kills during the push. Menlo suffered straight attack errors before connecting on their next five kills. The Lions maintained the lead with a Sybesma and Wang double block, a Sybesma kill, and an ace from the senior (13-9 VU). The Oaks attempted to stick close, but Duckworth rolled out two kills to force the hosts to use their final timeout (17-12 Vanguard). The five-point cushion was upheld through the red zone scoring, as VU closed the set on a 5-1 run.

Set 3
The tight-knit third set featured MC's game-high hitting percentage at .303 (14-4-33) to avoid the sweep. The Oaks had the more lively start, with VU only tagging three kills in its first 10 points. Their scoring spread primarily came from MC miscues, which included four service errors and three attack misfires.

VU's 4-0 settled the score at 10-all but didn't quite shift the narrative between the sides. Menlo continued to find a scoring flow with two kills and a double block, and the sides remained dead-even heading into the media timeout (15-15).

The turning point for the Oaks came after the restart, as they locked down a 4-1 run, which ended with an ace, to go up 19-17. VU burned a timeout and had Freemon find an ace of their own before Veldman equaled the tally going cross court (19-19), for MC's timeout to trigger.

The 14 total ties between the sides ended at 23-22 Menlo, where the Oaks cashed in another ace to earn set point and then the eventual set win.

Set 4
Veldman had 11 kills over the last two stanzas and dumped six in the VU's 25-16 rout in the final set. The scoreline was characterized by the Lions' game-best .478 (14-3-23) clip to MC's match-low .032 (8-7-31).

Wang's ace kicked off the set, followed by three straight MC attack errors for a 4-0 VU lead. The Oaks didn't settle, however, biting back in a 5-1 split to even the score. Vanguard pushed another lead with a pair of kills from both middles, then enjoyed another Sybesma Wang double block to stake a one-point lead (12-11).

Menlo's hope of sticking around fell apart after Veldman and Wang got rolled from the left side. Veldman put out four straight kills to trigger a 10-1 Vanguard run. His career-high 18th kill established match point, with Micah Sybesma cutting a 2-0 MC run to conclude the win in Atherton.

What's Next? The Blue and Gold are back on home soil for Senior Night against Concordia, Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m.