THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The early season schedule for the Cal Lutheran men's volleyball team did not get any easier on Thursday night as the Kingsmen welcomed No. 8 Vassar (N.Y.) to Gilbert Arena and fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-22).
In the first set, Patrick Rowe put CLU on the board early with a strong kill off an assist from Nick Shoemate and the two teams engaged in a seesaw affair. Trailing 7-5, the Kingsmen went on a 4-1 spurt with kills from Mason Mercer, Rowe, Kristian Gallardo and Michael Campbell. Rowe and Gallardo each added another kill moments later as the two teams traded point for point. With an 18-16 lead, Vassar scored four straight points to create a six-point separation. Mercer came through with three kills in the final five points for CLU but the Brewers held on for a 25-21 first set win.
The second set saw Vassar jump out to an early 4-0 lead, capitalizing on a handful of CLU miscues, and take an 8-3 lead to prompt a Kingsmen timeout. The timeout proved to be useful and shift the momentum back in favor of CLU as the Violet and Gold went on a 4-1 run to get back in the game. Shoemate utilized a dump off for a kill and set up Campbell for a kill to highlight the run. CLU eventually tied the set at 18-18, but the Brewers went on a 7-3 run down the stretch to take the two set lead.
Kelly Jew sparked the Kingsmen in the third set with two high flying kills to help CLU off to a 6-3 early lead. The Brewers rallied back to tie the set at 10-10 and moments later Shoemate and Jew tallied a kill apiece to tie the score at 13-13. From there, however, the Brewers rattled off five straight points during an 8-2 run to take a 21-15 lead. Trailing 22-17, the Kingsmen went on a 5-1 run to try to extend the game, highlighted by a pair of kills from Jew along with Justin Dietrich's first kill of the game, but Vassar closed it out 25-22 for the sweep.
Vassar hit .239 for the match compared with a .153 hitting percentage for CLU. The Kingsmen were led by the trio of Gallardo, Rowe and Jew who tallied six kills apiece. Campbell added five kills while Mercer finished with four. Jamal Balkhi recorded a game-high 11 digs and Shoemate recorded six to go along with 27 assists.
The Brewers were led by a game-high 10 kills from Matthew Knigge and Christian Lizana added nine. Lizana also led the team with eight digs and Zecheriah Lee finished with a game-high 31 assists.
Cal Lutheran (0-2) will take on defending Division III National Champion and No. 2 ranked SUNY New Paltz inside Gilbert Arena next Friday, Jan. 20 at 6:00 p.m.
Box Score: VC 3, CLU 0
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