Men's College Roundup for Feb. 15

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 15, 2023) – This week’s college roundup reshuffles the top five as we check in with the top teams in the country across the divisions. We spotlight some of the key matchups from the week that was, while also highlighting athletes who are part of the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program.

(rankings source: AVCA.org)

NCAA Division I/II

No. 1 Hawaii

Undefeated at 9-0 after sweeping a weekend doubleheader at Stanford, winning both matches 3-0

Match Leaders vs. Stanford (Sat.):

• Kills: Dimitrios Mouchlias (17)
• Blocks: Cole Hogland (6)

Next Up: At home to take on Concordia-Irvine for two consecutive games starting on Thursday night

No. 2 UCLA

11-1 record after defeating Long Beach State in both ends of a home and away two-game matchup

Match leaders vs LBSU (Fri.):

• Kills: Ethan Champlin (12)
• Digs: Troy Gooch (9)

Next up: Hosting BYU for two games this weekend beginning Friday night

USA Volleyball National Team Development Program/UCLA players
Andrew Rowan, who had 37 assists and two blocks vs. LBSU, was named AVCA National Player of the Week. Andrew was part of the 2022 U21 National Team where he was named MVP, Best Setter and Best Server.

Grant Sloane, who had three digs, two blocks and two kills vs. LBSU, was most recently a member of the 2022 Men’s Collegiate National Team and 2021 U.S. Men’s National Team (bronze at Pan Am Cup Final Six).

No. 3 Penn State

Now 9-1 on the season with a victory over St. Francis last week

Match leaders vs. SFU:

• Kills: John Kerr (15)
• Digs: Cole Bogner (17)

Next up: Home vs. Princeton Friday night

USA Volleyball National Team Development Program/PSU Players
Brett Wildman, who had two blocks, five digs and five kills vs. SFU, was a member of the 2022 U.S. Men’s National Team, winning bronze at the Pan Am Cup and the Pan Am Cup Final Six.

No. 4 Long Beach State

Now 6-2 after losing two games to UCLA at the end of last week

Match Leaders vs. UCLA (Fri.):

• Kills: Sotiris Siapanis (17)
• Blocks: Simon Thorwie (6) – No. 1 in the country in blocks per set (1.571)

Next up: LBSU welcomes in NJIT for two games this weekend.

USA Volleyball National Team Development Program/LBSU Players
Mason Briggs, who had 17 digs and nine assists vs. UCLA, was part of the 2022 U.S. Men’s National Team and was on the roster for the FIVB World Championship, where the team finished sixth. He is currently No. 3 in the country in digs per set (2.89).

Clarke Godbold, who had 10 kills and six blocks vs. UCLA, has twice been named to the U.S. Men’s U21 National Training Team and competed at the FIVB U19 World Championship in 2019. He was named AVCA National Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 29. He is No. 7 in the country in blocks per set (1.179).

No. 5 Grand Canyon

Remains undefeated at 11-0 after defeating Arizona Christian last week

Match leaders vs. ACU:

• Kills: Camden Gianni (11)
• Digs: Jordan Lucas (7)

Next up: @ USC Wednesday night

USA Volleyball National Team Development Team Program/GCU players
Camden Gianni, who had 11 kills and four digs vs. ACU, was on the 2021 Men’s Collegiate National Team and the 2021 Men’s National Team, where he earned a fifth-place finish in the NORCECA Continental Cup.

Rico Wardlow, who had three kills and one block vs. ACU, was a member of the 2019 Boys Youth National Team that placed 15th at the FIVB U19 World Championship.

Jonah Gilbert, who had two digs and two kills vs. ACU, was on the 2021 Boys U19 National Training Team and the 2020 Boys Youth National Training Team.

NCAA Division III

No. 1 Juniata

12-0 record after defeating Marymount (Va.) last Friday

Match leaders vs. MUVa:

• Kills: Maxwell Barr (16)
• Digs: Max Cooley (11)

Next up: vs. PSU-Altoona Friday night

No. 2 Stevens

Bounced back to win two in a row in the Aurora Tri-Match last weekend after suffering second loss of the season to No. 4 Carthage on Friday

Match leaders vs. AU:

• Kills: Phillip Bone (13)
• Digs: Jesse Knuckles (12)

Next up: On the road to take on NYU Wednesday night

No. 3 Springfield

10-1 on the season after beating NYU last week

Match leaders vs. NYU:

• Kills: Jarrett Anderson (11)
• Assists: Dylan Mulvaney (32)

Next up: On the road for a meeting with No. 5  Vassar on Thursday night

No. 4 Carthage

Improved to 7-3 with a win over previously ranked No. 1 Stevens on Friday

Match leaders vs. SIT:

• Kills: Carter Schmidt (16)
• Aces: Mitch Geiger (4)

Next up: In Milwaukee to take on the MSOE Raiders Thursday night

No. 5 Vassar

8-1 overall record with seven wins in a row after most recently downing Ramapo and Eastern Nazarene on Saturday

Match leaders vs. ENC:

• Kills: Andrew Kim (11)
• Blocks: Gavin van Beveren (5)

Next up: At home vs No. 3 Springfield on Thursday night

USA Volleyball National Team Development Program/Vassar Players
Vaughn Ramsey, who had 11 kills, five digs and five blocks vs. Ramapo, was a member of the 2020 Men’s Beach Collegiate National Team.

NTDP PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

• Kaleb Jenness – Ball State

Kaleb was a member of the 2022 Men’s National Team and won bronze at the Pan American Cup.

2/11 vs. McKendree (W 3-1): 11 kills, 6 digs, 1 block

• Trent Moser – BYU

Trent was on the 2022 Men’s U21 National Team.

2/11 vs. UCSB (W 3-1): 15 kills, 4 digs

• Heath Hughes – BYU

Heath was on the 2022 Men’s Beach Collegiate National Team and played in the 2022 FISU Beach World University Championships.

Currently ninth in the nation in assists per set (10.24)

2/11 vs. UCSB (W 3-1): 46 assists, 1 kill, 1 block

• Jacob Pasteur – Ohio State

Jacob was a member of the 2022 Men’s National Team and won bronze at the Pan American Cup.

2/11 vs. Lewis (W 3-0): 10 kills, 4 digs, 2 blocks

• Nyherowo Omene – Princeton

Nyherowo was on the 2022 Men’s National Team and won bronze at the Pan American Cup.

2/11 vs St. Francis (W 3-0): 7 kills, 3 digs, 3 aces, 2 blocks

• Francesco Sani – UC Irvine

Francesco was a member of the 2022 Men’s National Team and won bronze at the Pan American Cup.

2/10 vs Pepperdine (W 3-1): 15 kills, 2 aces, 4 digs

• Cole Gillis – UC Irvine

Cole was a member of the 2022 Men’s Beach Collegiate National Team and played with the U.S. Men’s National Team in 2021, earning bronze at the Pan American Cup

2/10 vs Pepperdine (W 3-1):  2 aces, 7 kills, 3 blocks

• Jaylen Jasper – Pepperdine

Jaylen is a three-time member of the U.S. Men’s Collegiate National Team and was on the 2018 Men’s Junior National Team.

2/10 vs UCI (L 3-1): 16 kills, 7 digs 3 blocks, 1 ace