COSTA MESA -- Senior night for VU men's volleyball went exactly as planned, as the squad swept Concordia University Irvine 25-20, 25-21, 25-18.  The Blue and Gold had 14 aces, the most this season, and the most by the program since 15 were dished out at Hope International n March 8, 2023.  Micah Sybesma planted five tonight, a game-high, and the third time in his career that he has hit that mark.  The Lions improved to 11-13 overall and 7-6 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action, while CUI dropped to 7-17, 4-9.  It was the second win all-time against CUI in eight matchups.
 
What Happened? The service ace was the key weapon of both sides in set one, with Vanguard netting six and CUI four.  Cole Oliver got the first VU kill of the night and then racked up three aces over four serves, propelling the Lions to a 9-2 lead.  A block by Brock Henderson and Sybesma increased the gap to 10-2, but after that, the Golden Eagles churned out an 11-3 stretch to tie the match at 13-all, with back-to-back aces bringing the teams level.  After a Vanguard timeout, Logan Freemon mashed down a kill and sniped his own ace as part of a 4-0 stretch in response.  That proved to be the winning run, as the Lions kept CUI roughly four points behind the rest of the way, with a service error giving VU the set 25-20.  The Lions hit .405 in the first period, with 17 kills and eight errors on 42 attempts, while CUI hit -0.05.
 
Set 2
Strikes from Grant Veldman and Freemon built an early VU edge, with another Henderson and Sybesma block pitching the lead to 4-1.  The Blue and Gold were soon ahead 10-5 and pushed the pedal down again behind kills from Oliver and another Henderson and Sybesma block to get the lead to 13-8.  Vanguard led 15-9 at the media timeout, but the visitors soon had that gap down to 15-12 to force a VU timeout.  CUI continued to creep in, slicing the lead to 17-15, but an ace by Logan Finley and a Veldman smash helped to restore VU to a 20-16 advantage.  Veldman pounded out back-to-back aces, and a CUI service error handed the Lions set two 25-21.  The Blue and Gold hit .400 in the second, with two kills and two mistakes on 25 swings, while Concordia improved to .194.
 
Set 3
While the first few points went back-and-forth, the Lions took off behind two aces in a row from Sybesma, with a third putting the home side up 9-4.  CUI called a timeout, but it did not help the guests much, as the Lions slowly climbed to a 17-10 lead, with another Veldman ace getting the home crowd fired up.  A dump by Henderson and a powerful ace by Sybesma upped the Vanguard lead to 19-11, and while CUI tallied seven points after that, VU ended the night on a Henderson kill to take the set 25-18.  The Blue and Gold hit .412 in the final period, netting 10 kills again, this time on 17 swings, with only three errors.  CUI hit .250 in the third.
 
The Lions won almost every team category on the night, highlighted with a 14-9 edge in aces, though both sides had six total blocks.  Freemon had a team-high seven kills (.429), with Oliver next with six.  Henderson came one kill shy of his career-high of six, though without any errors on six swings, his .833 hitting rate on the night was a career-best.  He also had 21 helpers and had three block assists, one behind Sybesma's game-high of four.  Sybesma also had four kills with no errors on six swings (.667), while Freemon had a game-high nine digs.

What was Said?  "I cannot be more proud of the way our seniors played tonight on senior night, and how the underclassmen supported their teammates," said Head Coach Brian Rofer.  "Our team is playing very good volleyball at the right time.  I'm excited about our game Friday at Concordia.  I know our guys will come in with the same focus, and hopefully we can carry our momentum into the MPSF Tournament next Wednesday.
 
What's Next?  The Blue and Gold play at CUI Friday night at 6:00 p.m.