USC vs Lewis 4-30-2019 MVB

Lewis didn't post a game day photo on their Instagram but USC did. This one features 6'5 Outside Hitter Redshirt Senior Jack Wyett. Don't forget to follow USC on Instagram as they prepare for their 2020 season next spring: @uscmensvolley

Dear Readers~


On April 30, 2019 the quarterfinals for the NCAA men's indoor volleyball tournament was held. The two quarterfinals were Pepperdine taking on Princeton and the game I'll be covering, USC taking on Lewis. Now it's time to get into the game.

The game was held on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 5 pm Pacific Time at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California, since Long Beach State is hosting the national finals for the men's indoor tournament. Going into the game, USC had a record of 18-11 while Lewis had a record of 26-5.

The first set ended at 25-20 with USC taking that set. The second set wasn't as close as it ended at 25-18 with Lewis taking that set. The third set was a little closer, at 25-19, with Lewis taking that third set as well. With Lewis being up 2 sets to USC's 1 set, USC knew they had to play hard to win the fourth set, so that's what they did. At the end of he fourth set, the score was 25-23, the closest the two teams have been all night but in the end, it was Lewis that would take down USC 3 sets to 1 to move on to the national semifinals and take on #1 ranked Hawaii to make the first semifinal match official.

Now it's time to cover the top players for each category. Up first is kills led by Ryan Coenen, with 18 for Lewis, while Gianluca Grasso got 16 kills of his own for USC. The leader in aces was Tyler Mitchem, who got 2 aces for Lewis, and the only aces Lewis got during that game, while Chris Hall, Kyle Gear, and Ryan Moss each got 1 ace a piece for USC. The leader in blocks goes to TJ Murray, of Lewis, with 10, while Chris Hall, Gianluca Grasso, and Jack Wyett each got 3 blocks a piece for USC. The leader in assists goes to Matt Yoshimoto, who got 41 assists for Lewis, while Chris Hall wasn't far behind with 40 assists of his own for USC. The leader in digs was Michael Simmons, who got 17 digs for Lewis while Ryan Moss led USC with 11 digs of his own.

Lewis didn't have a game day post on their Instagram page but they did post this after beating USC 3 sets to 1 to advance to the semifinals. Don't forget to follow them on Instagram as they prepare for their 2020 season: @lewismensvb

As mentioned earlier, Lewis took on Hawaii in the semifinals while USC got knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals. Stay tuned for my next blog as I cover one of the games that happened in Gulf Shores, Alabama for the NCAA women's beach national championship that happened that same weekend and also keep an eye out for my blogs covering the 2019 AVP Huntington Beach Open that happened the same weekend as both of these NCAA events. Until next time, Miller out


~J. Miller