USC
<b>Cal Baptist (NG)</b>
CAL BAPTIST MEN'S VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS USC
March 29, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
March 29, 2006
Shamsu Awudu had 20 kills, 7 digs and 3 aces to lead Cal Baptist, the NAIA's co-No. 1-ranked men's volleyball team and its 2-time defending national champion, to a 30-28, 30-26, 31-29 non-conference sweep over USC on Wednesday (March 29) in USC's North Gym. Cal Baptist, which won its 10th match in a row, improved to 17-7. USC, ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Division I, fell to 11-15 and lost for the fourth consecutive time to the Lancers.
Awudu, a junior from Ghana, hit .424. Fellow Ghana native Seidu Ajanako had 17 kills while hitting .542 and Yukai Sun of China added 13 kills and 2 aces for Cal Baptist.
For USC, Juan Figueroa had 14 kills and 8 digs, C.J. Schellenberg added 12 kills and Joao Grangeiro had 9 kills. Cal Baptist hit a blistering .462 and served 6 aces. The Trojans hit .310.
The first game see-sawed back and forth, with USC building an early 5-point lead at 12-7 and then Cal Baptist going up by 2 at 18-16. But a kill by Sun, a solo block by 5-8 setter Eric Plunkett and a USC hitting error gave the Lancers 3 unanswered points and a 25-23 edge that the Trojans couldn't overcome. Cal Baptist broke a 13-13 tie in the second game with consecutive kills by Ajanako and Plunkett and then the Lancers steadily pulled away, hitting .533 in that game to USC's .367. Cal Baptist jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in the final game and stayed in front until USC scored 3 points in a row on a serving error, a hitting error and a Figueroa kill to forge a 25-24 lead. But the Lancers quickly moved back in front at 27-26 on an Awudu kill and a solo block by Romain Vetter of Switzerland before an Ajanako kill ended the match.
It was USC's last match in the North Gym before moving to the new Galen Center next season.
USC now concludes its 2006 regular season with a trio of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches on the road (April 5 at UC Santa Barbara, April 7 at Cal State Northridge and April 15 at Pepperdine). The Trojans, currently in ninth place in the MPSF (but just half a game out of eighth place), are attempting to qualify for the 8-team MPSF post-season tournament.
