MVB Recap:
Coming off a bye weekend the men's Avalanche were able to run their record to 5-0 with a solid 3-1 road victory over the Douglas Royals. Continuing with his spectacular season, Diego Policarpo dominated the match with 28 kills and 3 aces for a staggering 31 points in the 4 sets of play. In addition to Diego's stat line, setter Boston Thiessen had 38 assists, middle blocker Jack Schmeiss tallied a career high 8 kills with no errors, and libero Albert Francisco also added 13 digs and strong reception. First year Avs Jhet Bowen, Noah Hadwen, and Luke Margenau each recorded their first official PACWEST kills in the win.
"To win on the road on a travel day takes heart and mental toughness and the guys were excellent in both categories tonight," said coach Cisco Farrero. "I couldn't be prouder of the cohesion and tenacity we displayed in fending off the Royals in this match. All 12 athletes that travelled played in this match and contributed to this full team victory."
On Saturday the Avs completed the weekend sweep of the Royals with another 3-1 victory. After a dominant 25-15 first set for the Avs, they started the second set with a 17-4 lead, however, the Royals came back strong, winning the set and tying the match. Sets 3 and 4 belonged to the road team as the Avalanche used strong serving and high-level offensive efficiency to take the final 2 sets, extending their PACWEST regular season record to 6-0. For the 6th match in a row Diego Policarpo led the Avs in scoring with 23 kills on just 36 attempts while Ethan Braam and Jace Wilson each contributed 8 points. Setter Boston Thiessen quarterbacked the offence to the tune of 37 assists and 1 kill.
"Putting aside the second set, I thought this was maybe our most complete match of the season thus far," Farrero said. "Douglas is a physical and athletic team, yet we were able impose our will for most of the night. We didn't serve super well on Friday so made that skillset a priority in our gameday practice, resulting in our best serving match of the year, tallying 10 aces to just 14 errors. Boston Thiessen had a great weekend at the setter position for us, remaining calm in situations where other setters panic. He does a great job of managing volume and keeping a hot hitter rolling. This was a great overall weekend for us and I'm extremely proud of the guys for the consistent growth and incredible focus this weekend."