THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.— The Cal Lutheran men's volleyball team showed out during Senior Night as the Kingsmen swept the Moorpark Raiders on Thursday night in Gilbert Arena. Scores of the match were 25-19, 25-22 and 25-12.
Dasmen Stewart and Brendan Ward were honored before the game and then helped lead the Kingsmen to their 14th win of the year.
Ward came up big around the net and recorded seven total blocks and added six kills. He hit his six kills with a .556 percentage. Stewart had five kills and two digs.
Andrew Reina tallied a team-high nine kills and had a hitting percentage of .500. He showed off an all-around game and had four service aces and five digs.
Justin Dietrich and Kelly Jew added six and five kills, respectively. Jew hit with a .556 clip and Dietrich recorded .455.
Grant Nelson and Alec Bennett kept the ball moving. Nelson dished out 16 assists and Bennett added 11 more.
Defensively, five Kingsmen tallied three or more assists. After Reina's five, Bennett and Eli Moore both had five and Nelson and Connor Hinthorn both tallied three.
Cal Lutheran recorded a .400 hitting percentage and held Moorpark to .179. The Kingsmen got better as the match went on and hit .320 in the first set, .367 in the second and had an impressive .600 in the third. CLU also combined to serve nine aces, while holding the Raiders to just one.
Moorpark kept the first set very close and only trailed Cal Lutheran by as many as four points. With the Kingsmen up 19-18, they made their move and shut down the Raiders. CLU went on a 6-1 run to end the set as Stewart had two kills and Reina and Jew added one more. Ward recorded a solo block during the run as the Kingsmen took the first set 25-19.
The Kingsmen faced some adversity in the second set. Cal Lutheran was down by five halfway through the set before they slowly made a comeback. Moorpark looked to have a hold on set two and were up 22-19. CLU came up clutch, scoring six straight points, and stole the match 25-22. Ward and Reina swatted down kills, Ward and Jew recorded back-to-back blocks and Hinthorn served an ace to finish it.
Cal Lutheran carried that momentum into the final set. The Kingsmen blew out the Raiders 25-12 and took the match 3-0.
Cal Lutheran wraps up the season at UC Santa Cruz on Saturday, April 13, at 6 p.m. The Kingsmen are looking for their first win against the Banana Slugs.
Interview with Brendan Ward and Dasmen Stewart:
Box Score: No. 15 CLU 3, MC 0
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director