Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 SANTA CRUZ -
It was a good weekend for UC Santa Cruz's men's volleyball team and a special weekend for
Lake Merchen.
Merchen became the school's career kills leader, passing former All-American Sal La Cavera's mark of 836 in Saturday's 3-0 win over Stevenson University.
In the earlier game Saturday, UCSC swept Illinois Tech and are now 6-0 this season.
"It's a good feeling. I've been on four really good teams and had really good setters," said the senior after the match.
Merchen finished with 13 kills and now has 841 in his career. He hit his record-setting kill down the right side to make it 16-7 in the second set, causing a celebration in the stands with fans waving signs that said "837".
"Honestly I didn't see it until I was about to serve," Merchen said of the signs. "It was pretty neat! They snuck it under my nose."
Merchen then proceeded to serve two aces after his record kill as UCSC opened a 20-7 lead to never trail in the second frame. The Slugs hit .367 in the set while holding the Mustangs to a -.032.
In the third set Stevenson was within 2 points at 16-14, but Landon Shorts's service error began a 5-0 UCSC run that forced Stevenson to use two quick timeouts.
Stevenson then had a 3-0 run to get within 22-19 but UCSC scored the last three points for set and match with kills by
Raymond Cascio and
Gino Gamboa.
Merchen also had a team-high 11 digs in the match.
Ryan Manley also had 13 kills with 8 digs. Cascio added 8 kills and four block assists.
"A strong showing by our boys two weekends in a row," said head coach
Paul Leon. "The stats are exceptional and energy was sensational, but at the same time we're finding things to get better at."
Setter
Evan Kittle also had a big Saturday, as he tallied his 1,200th assist and passed
Ryan McLaughlin for 3rd place on UCSC's career list.
"Evan's been really big for us this year," said Merchen. "We have a really superb passing line this year."
UCSC takes to the road next week to face UC San Diego in La Jolla on Friday and UC Merced Sunday.
