VBelo Daily: April 11, 2025

Five-setters in the Big West and a big win for Lewis. The stage has been set for an unforgettable Friday.

HUGE win for Lewis on Rae Strong Night, of all nights! (Lewis Athletics | Steve Woltmann)

Yesterday's Scores

Big West

#9 CSU Northridge (44%) def. #10 UC San Diego (56%)
3-2 (19-25, 26-24, 25-22, 21-25, 19-17)

Jalen Phillips was a beast on the court with a season-high 27 kills for the Matadors.

#5 UC Irvine (83%) def. #18 UC Santa Barbara (17%)
3-2 (25-19, 17-25, 19-25, 30-28, 15-12)

MIVA

Lindenwood (83%) def. Queens (17%)
3-1 (32-30, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21)

#14 Lewis (34%) def. #6 Loyola Chicago (66%)
3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 30-28)

Loyola hit .400% but that just wasn’t enough against Lewis and their .506% hitting percentage!

More importantly, I wanted to share more about what Rae Strong is all about. (This excerpt comes directly from the Lewis Athletics website.

Tonight was Rae Strong Night and Lewis raised money to support all of the wonderful small miracles that bless us. The roots of the Rae Strong Foundation began with the support of Lewis University and continues to be fostered from the strong community at Lewis. In 2018, the Rae Strong Foundation was created as a means to help provide support for preemie families. [Head Coach] Dan Friend and Lorelee Smith are the proud parents of Rae, who was born at just 24 weeks, classifying her as a micro preemie. A micro-preemie is a baby born weighing less than 1 pound, 12 ounces or before 26 weeks gestation. For more information visit: www.raestrong.org

Non-conference

Charleston (67%) def. Thomas More (33%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17)

#8 Pepperdine (99%) def. Jessup (1%)
3-1 (25-27, 25-18, 25-13, 26-24)

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Today's Match Projections

Big West

It is finally here. The series we have been waiting for since the season began. This should be fun.

#1 Long Beach (62%) vs #4 Hawai'i (38%)

EIVA

Penn State (51%) vs George Mason (49%)

I do love a good toss-up from VBelo.

Harvard (21%) vs #19 Princeton (79%)

NJIT (67%) vs Sacred Heart (33%)

IVA

Thomas More (15%) vs Maryville (85%)

Catawba (23%) vs Tusculum (77%)

MIVA

#15 Ohio State (93%) vs Quincy (7%)

Purdue Fort Wayne (16%) vs #12 McKendree (84%)

MPSF

Vanguard (35%) vs Menlo (65%)

#7 BYU (12%) vs #2 UCLA (88%)

#13 Stanford (11%) vs #3 Southern California (89%)

NEC

Saint Francis (54%) vs Daemen (46%)

D'Youville (27%) vs Fairleigh Dickinson (73%)

SIAC

LeMoyne-Owen (66%) vs Morehouse (34%)

Non-conference

King (1%) vs #16 Lincoln Memorial (99%)

Jessup (1%) vs #8 Pepperdine (99%)

Merrimack (30%) vs Long Island (70%)