Volleyball Hosts Ranked Opponents in Final Weekend

Match Notes I Live Stats I Video

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The IPFW men's volleyball team will host a pair of ranked MIVA opponents in the final week of the 2013 regular season. The Loyola Ramblers will visit the Gates Sports Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and the Lewis Flyers will face the Mastodons in the season finale on Saturday, April 13.

ABOUT IPFW
IPFW lost two matches last weekend after building a three-game winning streak at the Gates Sports Center. The Mastodons will now return to their home court with an overall record of 12-11 including a 4-8 conference record.

Eddie Rivera leads the team in kills with 291 and he is tied for the team lead alonside Omar Rivera with 22 service aces. Omar has put together a nice season offensively by leading the team in assists with 840.

Saturday night will be senior night for Anthony Randolph and Rob Samp. Randolph has 148 kills, 79 digs and 39 blocks on the year. He is hitting .204 for IPFW and averaged 2.03 kills per set. Samp is a rotational player that has 50 kills and 36 blocks to his credit. The senior has played in all 23 matches with eight starts.

SCOUTING NO. 11 LOYOLA

Loyola moved up to No. 11 in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week after defeating Ohio State 3-0 at Gentile Arena. The Ramblers have now won eight-straight heading into Wednesday night, improving their overall record to 18-8.

After losing three straight at the UCSB Asics Invitational to begin the year, Loyola got on a roll by winning nine of their next 11 matches. Lewis broke the winning streak on Feb. 16 and the Mastodons made it two in a row with a 3-2 road win against Loyola on Feb. 20.

The Ramblers enter the final weekend of the regular season with a 9-3 mark in the MIVA men's volleyball standings. Lewis remains a game ahead of them with a 10-2 record, but there is a drop off after the top two teams as Ball State and Ohio State are now tied at 7-5.

Loyola ranks second in the NCAA with an aces per set average of 1.57. The Ramblers are fourth in kills per set (12.97) and sixth in both assists per set (12.05) and hitting percentage (.304).

From and individual standpoint, Joseph Smalzer has been great during his junior campaign as he is ranked first in aces per set (0.67), fourth in points per set (4.74), and 11th in kills per set (3.75).

SCOUTING NO. 9 LEWIS

No. 9 Lewis will face Ball State on Thursday night before visiting the Gates Sports Center for the regular season finale. The Flyers are 19-7 overall with a 10-2 mark in MIVA competition. The team has won three-straight, but they were recently defeated 3-0 at Lindenwood on March 22.

After starting the season 1-5 overall, the Flyers got on a roll by winning 13 straight matches. Loyola snapped the winning streak on March 13 with a 3-1 win at Neil Carey Arena, but the Flyers have managed to win five of their last six heading into the weekend.

One key statistical category that makes Lewis one of the toughest teams in the country is their blocks per set average. The Flyers lead the country in the category with an average of 3.04. Yiwei Zhou and Bobby Walsh are each ranked in the top 10, averaging over 1.2 blocks per set.

The Flyers post a high team hitting percentage (.285) and are nationally ranked 17th in both aces per set (1.13) and kills per set (12.38). Three-time MIVA Offensive Player of the Week honoree, Geoff Powell, is nationally ranked in kills per set (3.72) and points per set (4.25).

ALL-TIME SERIES

Loyola leads the all-time series over IPFW 22-19. The series was tied 19-19 heading into the last weekend of the 2012 season. Loyola won the regular season finale at the Gates Sports Center 3-1, and then defeated the Mastodons in the MIVA Tournament 3-1. The Ramblers increased their lead in the all-time series with a 3-2 win over the Mastodons on Feb. 20 earlier this season.

Lewis leads the all-time series over IPFW 26-22. The last two contests between the Flyers and the Mastodons have each resulted in 3-0 wins for the Flyers.

LAST TIME OUT

The IPFW Mastodons fell on the road for the second straight night, falling to the Quincy Hawks 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-21), IPFW's first loss to Quincy since 2002.

Anthony Randolph led IPFW with 10 kills, while Eddie Rivera had nine, and Ramon Burgos seven. Jordan Armstrong dished out 25 assists, while Burgos and Eddie Rivera each had one service ace. Luis Bertran picked up 11 digs, while Burgos, Andy Sellan, and Bryan Saunders each had three blocks.

The Mastodons led briefly in the first set, before Quincy pushed ahead, leading by as many as seven at 24-17, before IPFW made one last push close to within three, but the margin was too much to overcome in the 25-21 first-set win.

The second set found IPFW trailing 4-0 out of the gate, but countered quickly, using an 11-4 run to turn the tables and lead 11-8. The Mastodons took ahead by five at 21-16; however, Quincy closed strong, out-scoring IPFW 9-2 the rest of the way to claim the 25-23 second-set win.

In the third set the teams battled back and forth early to seven ties and three lead changes, and IPFW led 9-7 before the hosts ran off six straight points to lead 13-9, and never trailed again. Down five at 21-16, the Mastodons fought back and closed to within one at 21-20, and again trailed by one at 22-21, but Quincy rebounded to score three straight and claim the three-set win over the Mastodons.

The Mastodons had won 21 straight matches against the Hawks, and are now 39-4 all-time against the school.

IPFW VS LOYOLA - FEB. 20 RECAP

Trailing 19-15 in the fourth set, the IPFW Mastodons rallied to win 29-27, and overcame a 7-2 deficit in the fifth and set to win 15-11, as the 'Dons toppled Loyola 3-2 (22-25, 25-12, 16-25, 29-27, 15-11) in an early MIVA contest.

Eddie Rivera had a team-high 15 kills, with Ramon Burgos adding 14. Luis Bertran picked up a match-high 13 digs, while Burgos had a career-high 11 blocks for his first collegiate double-double. In all, IPFW had more blocks (13.5-to-8.0), kills (62-to-55), and digs (43-to-41) in the win.

IPFW VS LEWIS - FEB. 23 RECAP

The IPFW Mastodons stumbled on Saturday night, as the No. 12 ranked Lewis Flyers won in three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-15, 28-26 in a MIVA contest.

Eddie Rivera knocked down a team-high nine kills, while Ramon Burgos chipped in six. Rivera also led the team with nine digs and two blocks, while Keegan Robbins and Kevin Villela had the team's aces in the match.

MIVA VOLLEYBALL

To follow all the action in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) visit the website at www.mivavolleyball.com. You can also find MIVA on Facebook at MIVAVolleyball and on Twitter @MIVAVolleyball.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Volleyball Hosts Ranked Opponents in Final Weekend

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