IRVINE, Calif. – There was much to celebrate in CU Arena on Saturday night. Coming off the upset win over No. 10 BYU on Thursday, the Concordia men's volleyball team looked to continue the momentum against No. 6 Stanford as the team honored its seniors. The team did so as the Eagles took down the Cardinal 3-1 (20-25, 25-14, 25-14, 25-22).
Prior to the match, the team honored three seniors,
Chandler Gibb,
Hunter Howell,
Isaiah Kaaa, along with manager Matthew Rochester and graduate assistant
David Connor Olbright.
"I think it was a very special moment, [Gibb and Howell] have contributed so much to the program. This was just a culmination of the four years we spent together" said Kaaa. "Came out with a great win against a tough opponent. The atmosphere was awesome, great fans tonight."
The trio of seniors made great contributions to the victory, as Kaaa earned the start at opposite and tallied three kills and two digs. Howell had a career night with seven kills (no errors), hit .538, and set a new single match record of 11 blocks, a mark he set last season. The all-time Concordia assist and dig leader, Gibb, had team-highs of 37 assists and seven digs.
"The seniors have played great you know for four years really" added head coach
Shawn Patchell. "Tonight was special, Chandler is really clicking with our offense, he is getting everybody involved. It's tough to defend us and that has everything to do with Chandler. We are getting the ball to
Hunter Howell more, Pono was great and started as opposite and was our serving sub, he has been great at every role he has played."
There were many more milestones in the match as
Raymond Barsemian and
Luke Krzmarzick each had career nights in blocking where Barsemian tied his personal best of seven and Krzmarzick set a new season-high with six.
Jordan Hoppe led the way with 16 kills on 22 swings and hit .682. Hoppe also tallied two aces, tying him for first most in a single season with 33, that ties Barsemian record from the 2018 season.
The Eagles were offensively efficient to start the match but let self-inflicted wounds cost the lead as the Cardinal were ahead 15-12. Later a 3-1 run put Concordia within two, 20-18 after Kaaa tooled the Stanford block. A later effort by Barsemian kept the home team alive at 22-20, until the Cardinal closed out the set with three straight points.
Concordia got off to a hot start to in set two, going ahead 4-0, that was later extended to a 14-6 lead. Two blocks from Barsemian and Howell paired up for a set of blocks to put the Eagles ahead 19-8. Krzmarzick stepped back to the line to serve two of his four aces giving Concordia its largest lead of 11, at 23-12. A rare dump from Gibb gave CUI set point which followed with back-to-back errors from each team to end the set.
Similar to the previous set, the Eagles garnered large and early leads to be up 13-6. Howell continued to play lights out as he was part of each play in Concordia's 5-0 run to make the score 20-8 CUI. Late substitutions for the Cardinal changed up the momentum, however, the Eagles were able to side out consistently to close out set three.
Both teams traded blows in the fourth set, as the teams were tied at 13-13. Concordia was able to gain separation with a 4-0 run due to the contribution of Howell and Barsemian to put their team three points away from the match. Stanford was able to hold off three match points and come within two, but the Eagles collected a kill from Barsemian to end the match.
When being asked what he will miss about being a student-athlete at Concordia, Howell said, "Just the memories, countless memories, walking through the halls of the school, being in the gym, just being surrounded by the people that do nothing but support me. Just contining to grow and I'm so thankful for it."
Although the Eagles have completed their home schedule, they will finish off the regular season with a road trip to No. 5 UCLA on Apr. 4 and then to No. 4 Pepperdine on Apr. 6.
For the full Concordia men's volleyball schedule, click here.
