VBelo Daily: January 15, 2026
The Big West improves to 21-1 on the season. One MPSF matchup today and a handful of interesting non-conference matches too.
Number of the Day
0 - This number is shared by two hitters from yesterday who both had 0 hitting errors. First up, Joshua Hightower (UMES) who co-led the Hawks with 14 kills and finished with a 14-0-25 (.560) attack line. Braedon Marquardt (LBSU) also pulled off an errorless performance, but as a middle in his collegiate debut. His final stat line was 9-0-10 (.900)!
Yesterday’s Scores
Non-conference
Long Beach (97%) def. Central State (3%)
3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-20)
UMES (47%) def. Virginia Wesleyan (53%)
3-1 (25-11, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17)
UC Irvine (90%) def. Princeton (10%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-10)
Hawai’i (94%) def. Roberts Wesleyan (6%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-16)
Hawai’i (93%) def. Rockhurst (7%)
3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-13)
Rockhurst. Set 3. What a performance. The Hawks hit .444 and out-blocked Hawaii 4.5-1 on the set. The GLVC is going to be bonkers and I am here for it!
Today’s Match Projections
MPSF
Southern California (91%) vs Vanguard (9%)
I will probably complain about the MPSF conference schedule all season. That being said, I will take this over some type of D-I and D-II split (for the time being). That doesn’t mean that I have to like these one-off conference match in January.
Non-conference
Long Island (55%) vs Dominican (45%)
Emmanuel (17%) vs Tusculum (83%)
George Mason (10%) vs Ohio State (90%)
Catawba (21%) vs Belmont Abbey (79%)
St. Thomas Aquinas (22%) vs Penn State (78%)
Thanks for doing and posting the post match interviews! This (1/14/26) was an especially good one. Any comments about the use of the Mikasa volleyballs for these matches? It would be interesting to learn what the players thought about the volleyballs after hearing what the broadcast announcers (Kanoa and CMac) said.
Best of a bad situation in MPSF as they want the flexibility to play out of conference but will eventually have to go to the 2 match model or the new schools may be without enough NC matches. Budgets are getting tighter not more plentiful.
Watching that battle in NC tonight with Catawba and Belmont Abbey.