Surprise, Ariz.- OUAZ men's volleyball team on this Saturday afternoon competed in their final non-conference matchup of the season against WHAC powerhouse Indiana Tech. The Spirit continued their hot streak, going undefeated this week with a 4-set victory, 25-20, 25-15, 18-25, 27-25. The Spirit are now on the best run of their season with an (11-3) overall record, already topping last year's win total.
Stars usually shine the brightest when the pressure is on, and that is exactly what the combination of
Caeden Salmen and Horatio Mausmai did this afternoon. Salmen, one of the best outsides in the GSAC, did what he does best, which is put the ball away efficiently. The graduate student from Anthem had a game-high 18 kills on a .556 hitting percentage. Junior
Horatio Maumasi capitalized after a night off on Friday and dominated the Warrior block. The Henderson native tallied 12 kills while also being a force defensively with 5 blocks, one of which was a solo block. Maumasi brought tons of service pressure as well with a service ace and a jump serve that tailed right above the tape, causing chaos for Warrior passers. His partner in crime,
Treven Clizbe, put on a show and had some clutch kills down the stretch. The former national champion had 9 kills with 2 highlight reel solo blocks. Junior
Bodhi Bettes had an incredible showing as well, with 11 digs and several play-saving pickups that not many Liberos can make. The setting combo of Maddux Goron and
Jacob Rangel combined for 46 assists on the afternoon, coming together to set some great tempo balls when the offense went through its rough patches.
Starting out in set 1, which was back and forth, OUAZ forced several Indiana Tech errors and caught fire near the end of the set. Picking up at 13-15,
Horatio Maumasi had a stellar cross-court kill, then followed it up with an insane service ace. After going up 17-22,
Caeden Salmen took over with three straight kills to put away the set. Set 2 was all OUAZ, the Spirit quickly took a 12-4 lead, forcing several Warrior errors and two tough kills by
Treven Clizbe. Following this run, the Spirit never looked back and took the set 25-15. The Spirit's offense slowed down in set three, while the Warriors gained momentum. Picking up the game at 16-13, the Warriors were able to force 4 Spirit errors and some staggering defensive plays. Indiana Tech ended up pulling away and winning 25-18. After switching setters and making some situational adjustments, the Spirit offense was able to pick it up and had some exceptionally solid blocking. The Warriors managed to salvage a set point at 24-23 with a game-saving block following an incredibly suspenseful set.
Horatio Maumasi had a fantastic high deep corner swing, tying the game back at 25-25. After an Indiana Tech missed serve, the stellar Spirit defense forced an error to end the match at 27-25.
Your OUAZ Spirit completed the 4-game homestand undefeated and remained near the top of the GSAC standings. The team will return to GSAC conference play on Thursday, March 19th against Park University Gilbert at 6pm inside the Arizona Athletic Grounds.
