April 17, 2008

PARKVILLE, Mo. - One milestone and two semifinalists locked in were the result of the first day of pool play in the 2008 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Invitational Tournament, as California Baptist got two wins to advance to the 7 p.m. semifinal and Park University earned win No. 100 for head coach Cory Frederick while also earning a semifinal bid at 4:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.

CBU got through two marathon wins, going to extra points three times with Lindenwood before knocking off the Lions 3-1, followed by a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over St. Ambrose.

Park shut out both of its pool play opponents, beating Missouri Baptist and Cardinal Stritch 3-0. Stritch and MoBap will play Friday at 12:30 p.m. to decide the Cal Baptist's semifinal opponent.

St. Ambrose and Lindenwood will open Friday's morning session at 10 a.m., fighting for a spot in Park's 4:30 semifinal at Breckon Sports Center.

Cal Baptist Wins Thriller to Open Tournament, 3-1 | Statistics
California Baptist University got 28 kills from Donald Baliaba and 17 more from Adiel Tiedjop, using extra points in two of its three wins to take a 3-1 victory over Lindenwood Thursday in the opening match of the 2008 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Invitational Tournament.

The win improves Cal Baptist to 13-11 on the season and 1-0 in Pool B, while Lindenwood falls to 25-9 and 0-1. The Lions were led by Joe Deimeke with 16 kills. CBU is back in action later today against St. Ambrose at 4:30, while Lindenwood plays SAU in the first match of the day Friday at 10 a.m.

No. 5 Lindenwood had and upset in the making going in game one, as the Lions led the No. 2 Lancers 23-17 late, but Cal Baptist got within two at 26-24, forcing a Lindenwood time out, and out of the break, an Eric Plunkett block got CBU within one, 26-25.

The Lancers later tied it at 27-27, and after the game went to extra points, Rich Parris knocked down an ace to win it, 35-33.

LU again led early in game two, jumping out to a 7-4 advantage, but a late Cal Baptist rally put the Lancers in front 22-20. Lindenwood later tied it at 24, and the Lions forced a last-minute CBU time out by taking a 29-28 lead.

The Lancers tied out of the time out, but Deimeke put one down from the left side to regain the lead 30-29, and the Lions got a block to end it, 31-29, tying the match at 1-1.

Lindenwood brought the momentum from game two's win into the early portions of game three, winning the race to 20 points and eventually taking a 21-16 lead. Deimeke made it 22-17 from the left side of the floor two plays later, and after the Lions went up 23-17, Deimeke stuffed Baliaba at the net to take a seven-point lead, 24-17.

Cal Baptist then went on a 9-2 run to tie it at 26-26, forcing an LU time out, and the Lions regained the lead out of the break on a Prince Wilson point from the left side, 27-26. CBU then tied at 28-28 to assure a third-straight two-point game, and Lindenwood was later forced to tie at 29-29 to ensure a third-straight extra-point affair.

Baliaba would close the book on game three, getting a kill from the middle to end it at 31-29 to take a 2-1 match lead.

After a back-and-forth start to game four, Cal Baptist took an 18-15 lead midway through, and Tiedjop made it 20-16, slamming the left side of the Lion defense from his right side to take a four-point lead. Lindenwood made a run to get within two, earning the next two serves, but after a time out, Yukai Sun notched a left-side kill to make it 24-21 late.

Two more Lindenwood points again reduced CBU's lead to one at 24-23, but the Lancers went on a 4-0 run to make it 27-23. Sun would take over from there, earning the final two points to win 30-26.

The tournament's opening contest was a rematch of both the 2005 and 2006 title bouts, as Cal Baptist came away with 3-0 wins, helping push its current reign of four-straight tournament titles.

Pirates Sweep MoBap for First Tourney Win | Statistics
Henry Uribe had 15 kills and Ryan Stafford notched 13 more, as Park University swept Missouri Baptist - 30-26, 30-18, 30-27 - in the second match of the 2008 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Invitational Tournament.

The top-seeded Pirates improved to 25-1 on the season and 1-0 in pool play, while Missouri Baptist fell to 18-9 and 0-1 in Pool A. J.P. da Silva led the team at the net with 42 assists, while Uribe added six blocks to total 19.5 points.

Matt Mahoney led Missouri Baptist's offensive attack with 14 kills. MoBap resumes tournament play Friday at 12:30 p.m. against Cardinal Stritch, while Park takes on the Wolves in Thursday's nightcap at 7 p.m.

The Pirates fell behind early in the opening game, as Missouri Baptist jumped out to a 14-9 lead before Park went on a 7-2 run to get within two, 16-14. Uribe had two kills in the run, and later in the game, the junior gave Park its first lead of the match at 18-17 with a service ace that split the right side of the Spartan defense.

Prior to taking the lead, Caio Maciel got the Pirates to within one with a block in the middle of the floor, and Park tied it a play later when Missouri Baptist fumbled a set in the middle of the floor to make it 17-17.

Park later took a three-point lead to force a Spartan time out when Uribe stuffed the Missouri Baptist right side to make it 23-20, and out of the break, the Pirates finished on a 7-6 rally to win it 30-26.

The Pirates opened game two up 7-5 before a 4-0 run made it 11-5 on a Uribe kill. Four serves later, a MoBap error put Park up eight at 14-6, and after a rally on the next play, Dragomir Katanic fired from the middle of the floor, landing a deflection to make it a nine-point game, 15-6.

MoBap was forced into its second time out of the game when Park went up 10, as Maciel recorded a solo block to make it 17-7, and the lead extended to 11 (20-9) before Missouri Baptist managed to reach double-digits.

The Spartans went on a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 20-12 after getting by the 10-point barrier, but Stafford stopped the spurt with a right-side kill to extend the lead back to eight.

Uribe pushed the lead back to 10 with a kill to make it 25-15 late in the second, and Park finished on a 5-3 run to win it, 30-18, grabbing a 2-0 match lead.

In game three, the Pirates fell behind 13-11 before Uribe and Katanic combined on a block to tie it, but MoBap rallied back to regain a two-point lead, going up 17-15 on a Stafford error at the net.

MoBap later extended its lead to 22-19 past the 20-point barrier, but Park fought back by scoring the next two points to get within one, 22-21. Stafford floated one in past the Spartan front line to tie it at 23-23, and after an MBU time out, Park got the next two points to go up 25-23.

Missouri Baptist made its last stand in the match over the next four serves, going on a 3-1 run to tie it at 26-26, but a pair of points, including an Erick Albuquerque solo block, made it 28-26, and the Pirates won two of the final serves to win their 15th-straight match.

The win also puts Park head coach Cory Frederick two wins away from the 100-win plateau at 98-16 in four seasons at the helm of the Park volleyball program.

Cal Baptist Outlasts St. Ambrose in Marathon Affair, 3-2 | Statistics
California Baptist trailed 2-1 through three games in its second Pool B match of the tournament, but the Lancers rallied for a five-game victory over No. 4 St. Ambrose behind 28 kills from Adiel Tiedjop and 59 Eric Plunkett assists from his setting position.

The win moves Cal Baptist (14-11) into the 7 p.m. Friday semifinal match against the No. 2 team out of Pool A. St. Ambrose, who fell to 27-9, will play next at 10 a.m. Friday against Lindenwood for a spot in the 4:30 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Pool A.

California Baptist opened the match with a 30-25 win, but early in game two, St. Ambrose went on the attack, opening on an 8-5 run and maintaining the thee-point lead at 9-6 on a kill by Zak Krumlinde.

St. Ambrose then went on an 8-5 run, using a Cal Baptist service error to go up 17-11, but the Lancers answered the run, going on a 3-0 clip that turned into a 5-1 run, cutting SAU's edge to two, 18-16.

The Bees managed to extend their lead to 24-19 before Tiedjop unloaded from the middle of the floor to reduce the lead back to four, 24-20, and Tiedjop later knocked down two in a row to make it a two point game.

After an SAU time out, Cal Baptist slimmed the lead to 27-26 on another Tiedjop kill, but SAU finished on a 3-1 run to win game two, 30-27.

St. Ambrose opened game three on a 5-2 run but Cal Baptist quickly countered, getting three-straight blocks involving Blair Penner to take a 6-5 lead.

CBU later extended its advantage to three points on an SAU error at the net making it 14-11, and on the next play, the lead moved to four on a block from Penner and Tiedjop, forcing a Fighting Bee stoppage.

St. Ambrose would answer by forcing Cal Baptist to take a time out 11 serves later, going on a 7-4 run to tie it at 18-18, and out of the break, the Bees got two more points on Lancer miscues to make it 20-18, their first lead since 5-4.

The lead would grow to three late, 28-25, for the Bees, and SAU held on to take a 2-1 match lead with a 30-28 win in game three.

The Lancers were the aggressor to start game four, taking an 11-8 lead on a Tiedjop kill from the right side just before St. Ambrose rolled off two straight to get within one, 11-10.

Baliaba gave CBU a three-point lead at 14-11, notching a kill from the same spot Tiedjop struck from earlier, but the Lancers were unable to extend any further seven serves later, as St. Ambrose got back within two, 17-15, on a Cal Baptist error.

Krumlinde later went in on a block for the Bees to cut CBU's lead to 18-17, but CBU again went running, outscoring SAU 6-1 over the next seven serves to take a 24-18 lead. SAU kept the game's close nature in tact, though, rolling off five of the next six points to cut it to 25-23, forcing another Lancer time out.

Out of the break, Cal Baptist got two quick points to make it 27-23, and after a St. Ambrose stoppage, CBU managed to force a fifth game by holding on to win 30-27 despite being outscored 4-3 over the final seven plays.

St. Ambrose took the first point in the deciding frame and on the ensuing serve, the Bees gave it right back to the Lancers by serving the ball into the net. Tiedjop again came up strong for CBU on the next possession, killing from the left side to take a 2-1 lead, but SAU answered from its left side on the next serve, tying it at 2-2.

The game was again tied at 3-3 before a Baliaba kill made it 4-3, and the Lancers scored a block from Tiedjop and Romain Vetter to go up 5-3.

St. Ambrose called a time out after CBU made it 6-3, and after the pause in play, the Lancers pushed their lead to 7-3 before turning sides with an 8-4 advantage. After the flip, three-straight St. Ambrose errors made it 11-4, forcing another time out, and CBU cruised after the stop, scoring on four of the final five plays to win 15-5 and 3-2.

Frederick, Seniors Blitz Stritch for Win No. 100 | Statistics
Cory Frederick and the 2008 Pirate Senior Class earned win No. 100 in four seasons at Park, as the Pirates used 11 kills from Ryan Stafford and eight Henry Uribe digs to defeat Cardinal Stritch - 30-23, 30-21, 30-24 - to improve to 2-0 in pool play, securing a spot in Friday's 4:30 p.m. semifinal match.

Frederick is now 100-16 in four seasons with the Pirates.

Park (27-1) hit .274 as a team, assisted by 34 assists from J.P. da Silva and two Uribe solo blocks to earn a second-straight shut-out win in National Invitational Tournament play. Cardinal Stritch fell to 22-9 on the year, as Austin Cass led the offensive charge for the Wolves, who hit .059 as a team, with seven kills.

Stritch now plays at 12:30 Friday against Missouri Baptist for a spot in the 7 p.m. semifinal against No. 2 California Baptist. In Park's 4:30 semifinal, the Pirates will draw the winner of St. Ambrose and Lindenwood, who open Friday's play at 10 a.m.

Park opened the match on a 4-1 run, eventually turning it into a 13-7 lead midway through on an Erick Albuquerque kill from the left side of the floor.

Uribe made it a seven-point game from the middle of the floor with a kill at 16-9, and after the Pirates passed the 20-point mark, an errant Cardinal Stritch serve made it a nine-point game at 21-12.

The lead extended to double figures a play later when Albuquerque flipped the ball over the Wolves' defense, putting Park up 22-12, and the Pirates put the game on cruise control in closing with a 30-23 win despite being outscored 11-8 after taking the double-digit lead, finishing on a Ryan Stafford kill to go up 1-0 in the match.

Stritch opened game two with a 3-0 advantage, and after Park got back within one at 4-3, the Wolves notched a Jacob Cosson kill to take a 5-3 lead. The Pirates rallied back to tie it at 5-5, and Uribe's back-to-back aces on the ensuing serves gave Park its first lead of the second stanza, 7-5.

Park extended its lead to three, 14-11, on another Uribe left-side spike, and after maintaining the lead to 15-12, Stritch posted a pair to get within one, 15-14.

Park then rattled off the next five points to go up six, followed by Lance Pulliam's kill that put the Pirates on top 22-15. Stafford then forced a time out by firing from the right side to make it 25-19, and out of the stall, Park used back-to-back tallies to get three points from 30.

After a Pirate error put Stritch at 20 points, Park filed two more points to make it 29-20, Park split the next two serves to win 30-21.

The Pirates took seven of the first 10 serves in game three, eventually taking an 11-5 lead before a 3-0 Stritch run made it 11-8. Park answered, delivering two straight to return the lead to five, going up 13-8 on a Uribe solo block. Park continued the run with a mid-floor kill to lead 14-8, but Cardinal Stritch rallied to get within four before Stafford jammed one in between defenders to make it a 17-12 game.

Park got to the 20-point mark up 20-14, and the Pirates returned the lead to six after a short Stritch rally, as Pulliam scored from the left side to go up 26-20. The lead stretched to 28-20 with another Pulliam point, this time on a solo block, and the Pirates finished with a six-point win to mark the 100th win for both Frederick and the senior class.