IRVINE, Calif. – Vanguard men's volleyball was nearly capsized in straight sets on Friday night, but the Blue and Gold captured a narrow third frame win to set the tide for an eventual reverse sweep over Concordia (12-25, 21-25, 29-27, 25-20, 15-7). It was the program's first five-set reverse sweep in two years, when they overcame #1 The Master's.

Both teams conclude the regular season, with VU matching its longest win streak of the season at four and improving to 12-13 overall and 8-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Concordia is shellshocked on senior night to dip to 7-18 and 4-10.

What Happened? VU had its lowest hitting percentage against D2 opponents all year, hitting .200 (48-24-120) for the match. They started the game swinging negative (-.059) with seven attack errors, while the Golden Eagles were terminal in their game-high .727 (8-0-11) errorless opening.

Grant Veldman and Logan Finley had the only VU kills (2) through their opening seven points, with VU's only respite coming by way of CUI service errors. The two teams were evenly paced until VU committed three straight errors, and the Golden Eagles spurted to an 11-3 run to lead 15-7. Veldman picked up the Lions' first ace out of the media timeout, but Concordia doubled the Vanguard scoreline by the time the Lions breached double-figures (20-10 CUI). The set finished on a 5-2 run for the hosts, on the back of strong leads in aces (3-1) and blocks (3-0).

Set 2 Vanguard remained in the negatives for the second set (-.038: 6-7-26), with Concordia doubling VU's kill total (12-6-28) with a .214 rate. They also had a narrow 3-2 lead in blocks to steer toward the set win.

Three attack errors between both teams started the scoring for the stanza, with Braddock Duckworth driving a kill down the middle for the first clean point of the set. Duckworth and Veldman combined for the next pair of VU kills as they stayed behind the Concordia trail by two (11-9 CUI). The Golden Eagles built a 4-1 split to punch back, which raised their buffer to four.

VU did inch within one after a Logan Freemon kill and two CUI errors (18-17 CUI), but that was the last credible threat they presented to the home team. The Golden Eagles burned a timeout and didn't surrender a Vanguard kill for the rest of the set in a 25-20 win.

Set 3 The Lions could not match their absurd 1:1 ace-to-service-error ratio (14-14) from Wednesday's win, instead leaking 26 service errors with five total aces for the game. It was a metric that nearly cost them in set three as they had their game-high seven service errors. Luckily for them, CUI coughed up eight service errors themselves, setting up the tightest set of the night with 12 ties and six lead changes. Both teams also hit plus .300, with the Golden Eagles taking the 3-0 lead in blocks.

VU had an early lead with two kills from Veldman, but four ties kept the score even until the midway point of the period. The media timeout was where Concordia created an ounce of space to go up by three (17-14). Cole Oliver cashed in on a right side kill to trigger VU's reply, and Freemon floated an ace to the back corner to connect on the 3-0 run.

After 17-all and a CUI timeout, neither team could piece together a larger than a two-point lead for the rest of the set. Vanguard was first to decisively break away, knotting set point 24-22 after Micah Sybesma's shot down the shoot, but Concordia layered a comeback to make it a 24-all.

There was just one kill over the last eight combined points of the set. It came from Veldman, racking a shot down the left pin. And directly after the service error bug bit CUI for two late miscues and another set point VU. The Lions avoided the loss in straight sets with a double block from Veldman and Sybesma to mark the 29-27 win.

Set 4 The Blue and Gold had a game-high 16 kills, hitting .306 in the fourth frame, in a confident result to force five sets. It was also the only set Concordia went empty from the service line as VU led 2-0.

The Lions badgered CUI on a 6-1 start with kills from three different Lions, a Freemon ace, and a double block from Veldman and Duckworth. The Golden Eagles did build back from the deficit with a 4-2 run to come within three points (8-5 VU), but it was the closest they came for the remainder of the set.

The Lions had six successive kills without error to keep Concordia on the back foot, and Veldman's ace to make it 19-11 was the largest lead of the set. CUI were fruitful out of their timeout, tacking in a 9-6 split over Vanguard to finish the period. But Willy Wang's kill and a hulking triple block from Veldman, Duckworth, and Freemon finished the job to put the match to a fifth set.

Set 5 Momentum resided with Vanguard, as the Blue and Gold never trailed in the final set. They hit a blinding .455 on just one attack error while Concordia suffered its match-worst -.125 (3-5-16) rate.

VU sped away after a 2-2 start, plotting a 10-2 run on the back of two Sybesma kills and an ace to lead 12-4. Concordia burned both timeouts in no time to try to stop the bleeding. Their late ace was not enough to spark a response, however, as Vanguard used the services of Duckworth's block and kill to pull off the reverse sweep.

Oliver led Vanguard with 14 kills and seven digs. Veldman fired 11 kills, with six digs, five block assists and two aces. Sybesma snapped 10 kills, hitting . 500 (10-3-14) and adding four blocks. Wang went for 34 assists, while Freemon was the dig leader with a career-best 13 pickups.

What's Next? The Lions will await the seeding for the first round of the MPSF Tournament, starting next Wednesday, April 22.