DES MOINES, Iowa -[SCHEDULE & RESULTS | BRACKET] The 2023 NAIA Men's Volleyball Championship pool play ended with three sweeps, two new records set and one five-set match on Wednesday inside the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex. 

Menlo (Calif.) def. Indiana Tech, 3-0

Menlo (Calif.) created some distance on the scoreboard with a 7-2 run early in set one. The Oaks extended their lead by as many as eight points in the set. Indiana Tech captured an early 10- 7 lead in set two but Menlo went on an 11-2 run sparked by a kill off the hand of Chase Direito to tie the score and take the lead. The Oaks maintained their lead and carried the momentum through to win the second set. The teams battle back and forth in the third set until a tie score at 10 points where Menlo gained control of the set and limited the scoring runs for Indiana Tech ion order to close out the final set 25-19.

Season Records: Menlo (Calif.) 16-7 | Indiana Tech 19-9

Game Highlights

• Konrad Stoklosinski of Menlo was the only attacker to have double-digit kills at 17 kills in the match. Stoklosinski also contributed five service aces in the match.
• Julius Stiemer led the defensive effort for Menlo with seven digs and five assisted blocks.
• Lucas Larson directed the Oaks offense with 33 assists in the match.
• The Oaks held Indiana Tech to under 0.200 attack percentage in each of the three sets.

Grand View (Iowa) def. Jamestown (N.D.), 3-0

A 10-3 scoring run gave Grand View the initial lead in set one. GVU controlled the set from that point on only allowing Jamestown one or two points at a time before closing the set at 25-16. Through the second and third sets, UJ stayed within five points of the Vikings, but GVU maintained its lead and closed the match out in three sets.  

Season Records: Grand View (Iowa) 20-8 | Jamestown (N.D.) 21-5

Game Highlights

• UJ posted the highest hitting percentage of the match as a team in a set at 0.470 in set three. The Jimmies recorded only one attacking error in the set.
• The teams nearly match hitting percentages for the match (GVU 0.226 | UJ 0.266)
• Daniel Galili of Grand View recorded the highest total of kills in the match with 11. Galili was followed by Oguzhan Oguz of Jamestown with 10 kills in the match.

OUAZ (Ariz.) def. Webber (Fla.), 3-0

The teams battled for the lead in the first set but after a tie of 13 all, a 4-1 run gave OUAZ (Ariz.) the space that they needed to secure a 25-19 set one win. The second set saw 12 scoring ties until, like the previous set, a four-point run gave the Spirit enough room to close out set two 25-21. OUAZ maintained a lead through the entire third set to secure the match win.

Season Records: OUAZ (Ariz.) 14-8 | Webber (Fla.) 12-7

Game Highlights

• Emery Outin and Quaid King of OUAZ matched each other as leading scorers in the match with 12 total kills.
• Carson Barnes of Webber was the only other attacker to record double digits in the contest with 10 kills.
• The teams nearly matched each other on the defensive effort [OUAZ 26 digs, 10 blocks (1 solo, 9 assisted) | Webber 23 digs, 12 blocks (2 solo, 10 assisted)]
• The Spirit were dominant offensively in the match [OUAZ 0.417 | Webber 0.175] while Tyler Gardenhire directed the offense with 34 assists in the contest.

Saint Xavier (Ill.) def. Georgetown (Ky.), 3-2

With a total of 19 ties scores, it wasn’t until the final two points that set one was decided in Georgetown’s (Ky.) favor after a Saint Xavier (Ill.) service error and an ace from the hand of Vejas Cuplinskas that gave the Tigers the lead in the match. GC captured the lead early in set two and maintained a two-to-five-point lead through the remainder of the set. The teams battled for the lead in set three until SXU launched a 7-2 scoring run at 16 all. The Cougars held that lead to a 25-23 set three win. The battle continued into the fourth set but with a tie score of 20 Saint Xavier capitalized on a 5-1 scoring run to tie the match at two sets apiece. The Cougars opened the fifth set with a 5-1 run and held that lead to win 15-9.

Season Records: Georgetown (Ky.) 21-7 | Saint Xavier (Ill.) 23-5

Game Highlights

• Oskar Krzyzak of SXU led all scorers with 25 kills in the match. Five other players notched double-digit kills in the contest SXU – Vejas Cuplinskas (13), Jan Lopuch (13) | GC – Ryan Gunn (11), Krzysztof Kowalski (17)
• CJ Bride of Georgetown recorded a new record of 21 digs in a match. The previous record was 20 digs in a match set by Jesus Izaguirre of Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) in 2019 and matched by Jay Montalvo of Campbellsville (Ky.) in 2021.
• The first set score of 35-33 is the highest score of any set in the national championship since it started in 2019.