IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine men's volleyball was back on their home stand Thursday playing against Vanguard. This was a tough match between the two teams but the Lions were able to squeak by with a five set victory with scores 12-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18, and 15-12.
Gage Doble led CUI with 22 kills while hitting an impressive .372. Doble ties his career-high kills which he achieved his freshman year at Grand Canyon.
Makua Marumoto had a double-double on the night as he finished with 11 kills and 12 digs while playing outside.
Christian Galoppo came into the game in the fifth and made an immediate impact going 4-for-4.
Justin Dowdle played for most of the game and had six kills with one solo block and six digs.
Nathan Habermas and
Cole Wachter were unstoppable at the net collecting eight and five kills. Habermas' height showing tonight as he tallied five block assists from the pins.
Cruse Ae'a scooped up a career high of 13 digs which tops his previous of nine digs he reached twice this season.
Colin Marks ran the offense and dished out 40 assists with help from
Makai Lipson contributing six.
CUI looked solid in the first set holding Vanguard from getting more than one point at a time the entire set. The Lions jumped out in the second set and the Golden Eagles had a hard time coming back. The Green and Gold tried late in the game with Habermas at the end line going on a four point run and two consecutive kills from Doble to cut the deficit but the Lions were able to close out the set.
The third set went in favor with CUI jumping out to an early lead and Vanguard slowly creeping back into the game. Marumoto went on three point run to help improve their lead by six. A service error from Vanguard finished that set.
The fourth and fifth set went to the Lions but the Golden Eagles did not let up until the game was completed. The score continued to toggle but Vanguard slowly broke away with the lead and continued that momentum to close out the match.
The Golden Eagles will host Vanguard for a rematch on Saturday Mar. 22 at 7 p.m. before going on the road to play against them for another two games next week.
Click here to see the full CUI men's volleyball schedule.
