Box Score PROVO, UTAH – The Concordia men's volleyball team traveled to BYU as they enter the MPSF tournament ranked as the No. 7 seed. The Eagles competed in the quarterfinals against the No. 2 seed of the tournament, UCLA. In their previous match-ups this season CUI won their first dual in school history over UCLA while going 1-2 in the series. The Eagles fought a tough match today versus the Bruins who took the match in four sets with close scores 23-25, 25-21, 24-26, and 20-25.
 
In the first set, the score toggled back and forth between the two teams for most of the set. Jordan Hoppe served an ace with an overpass from the Bruins led to a kill from Jesper Schut to tie the set early at five a-piece. Outside hitter, Erik Boisvert comes up huge with a stuff block to continue the momentum for the Eagles and take the lead. After two aces from Raymond Barsemian and Hoppe, the Eagles forced the Bruins to take both theirs timeouts but were able to finish with a close 23-25.
 
Owen Chun enters the game in the second set and contributes two kills and two blocks for the Eagles while coming back from the deficit and taking the lead as the Green and Gold are up by two at the media timeout. Hoppe throws down a tip from the back row to stop the Bruins from going on a run and keeping their one point lead. After a challenge was called from the head coach, the Eagles took a big two point lead with a score 18-16. Boisvert crushed a ball to the corner to extend their lead to 22-17 as the Eagles go on a 7-2 run. The Eagles finished the set with an impressive hitting percentage of .538 with no errors.
 
The third set is no different than from the first as back-to-back solo blocks from Hoppe and Schut go a long way for CUI as they tie the score six all but the Bruins aren't out of it yet as they take a 9-6 lead and force the Eagles to take an early timeout. Noah Taitano comes in to serve at the back line and brings the Eagles within one after trailing by five. UCLA was able to take set three over CUI with score of 24-26.
 
A triple block from McLain Mott, Schut, and Boisvert made that the Eagles eighth block of the match. Jonathan Carlson comes into the game and comes in clutch with a great cover after a Barsemian hit that leads to a point for Concordia. The score was kept close for most of the set but UCLA pulled away near the end, finishing out the match and advancing in the MPSF tournament.
 
Many Eagles saw the court today that each contributed differently for the team. Barsemian had 19 kills with a staggering hitting percentage of .405 while adding an ace, three digs and blocks. Hoppe had nine kills with a hitting percentage of .391 with two aces, four digs, and three blocks. Middle Schut finished with six kills and led the Green and Gold with four blocks. Senior libero Addison Enriques was superb in the back row collecting five digs that came with some heat behind the ball. Both setters Brock Henderson and Mott dished out 20 assists each.   
 
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