Men's Volleyball: Tuminelli, rookies crush Hope’s hopes

This year, the Tigers (1-2) took the same trip to California and managed to walk away with one win. Despite falling 0-3 to both No. 15 UC San Diego (4-6) and to No. 1 California Baptist University (7-3), the team rallied for its final game against Hope International, winning 3-1 over the Royals (4-4).

Senior co-captains outside hitter Vincent Tuminelli and middle blocker Keenan McCarthy led the Tigers in their first match against UCSD, combining for 13 kills. Tuminelli also contributed six digs while McCarthy added three blocks. Junior Scott Liljestrom resumed his post as the starting setter for the Tigers and assisted 12 times. The first set saw seven tied scores but the Tritons never lost the lead. Despite kills from Tuminelli and McCarthy that brought the match to 20-18, after a timeout UCSD rallied to finish the set 25-21.

It was a similar story in the second set, when the Tigers tying the game at 23-23 before two consecutive kills from UCSD ended the set a close 25-23. That was the closest the Tigers got before dropping to a 10-2 gap in the third set. Though serving from both Tuminelli and McCarthy rallied the Tigers’ score, the Tritons finished the set 25-16.

While the upperclassmen led the season opener, the newcomers contributed heavily in the Cal Baptist match. Rookie outside hitter Jeff Stapleton was good for nine kills and classmate setter Davis Waddell had twenty assists. Freshman middle blocker Brad Howard rounded out the starting trio of freshmen and contributed a kill, a service ace and a block.

The Lancers took the lead early in the first set, going up 6-1 after four service aces from Cal Baptist outside hitter Levi Cabral. They retained the lead and despite kills late in the set from Tuminelli and Stapleton on Waddell assists, Cal Baptist finished the match 25-21 on a kill after another Cabral serve.

The second set saw more pressure from the Tigers’ defense on Cal Baptist serves, which combined for a total of seven aces in the entire match. Despite being held to a negative hitting percentage, the Tigers tied the score at 10 before errors put Cal Baptist in the lead for good. Multiple attack errors from the team ended the set with a 25-19 loss. The Tigers were not ready to throw in the towel yet and pushed Cal Baptist hard in the last match. With the score tied at 21, a kill and service ace put Cal Baptist ahead 23-21. Attack errors by Tuminelli and Stapleton ended the set 25-22.

However, Tuminelli and Stapleton were back for revenge in the Tigers’ last match of the break. Tuminelli recorded 23 kills, 10 digs and hit a .459 percentage, while Stapleton had a breakout game with 17 kills, 8 digs and 5 aces in a win against Hope International. Stapleton led a charger early in the first set that brought Princeton from tied at 5 to leading the Royals 10-5. Serves from sophomore middle blocker Michael Dye put Princeton up 13-6, where they retained the lead for the rest of the set, finishing 25-17.

The Royals challenged the Tigers in the second set, tying the score at 21 before a back and forth banter of points. Two serves from Waddell and two blocks from Dye gave the Tigers the win, 29-27. Despite a closely matched third match from which Hope International emerged victorious, the Tigers won definitively in the fourth and last set 25-16.

The Tigers head to Rutgers-Newark this Friday for the first conference match of the season and open the Dillon Gymnasium home game scheduled next Tuesday against NYU.