FULLERTON – Hugo Gonzalez Gutierrez posted a career-high 16 kills and Alessandro Spendolini added 15 to power the Hope International men's volleyball team to a 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 29-27 victory against Simpson on Wednesday at Darling Pavilion.
Spendolini notched 11 digs to secure his fourth double-double of the season. Steve Tong had a match-high 15 digs.
The Royals narrowly outblocked the Redhawks 12.0-11.0 with Sean Seaman collecting seven block assists. The setter duo of Benjamin Antonio and Sam D'Ambrosio notched 19 and 18 assists, respectively.
HIU hit .144 (49-30-132) as a team, slightly better than Simpson's .132 (45-27-136) mark.
HIU swung at a .400 clip in set one. The Royals built an 8-4 lead on the strength of a 5-0 run. The Red Hawks closed the deficit to 14-13, but three straight points from the Royals created a 17-13 advantage. Gonzalez Gutierrez had five kills in the set, including one that gave HIU a 21-18 lead.
Back-to-back Spendolini kills got the Royals to set point at 24-20, and an Akira Davies attack error cemented the 25-20 victory.
The Royals won set two by an identical score, although Simpson put the home team in an early 4-0 hole. HIU utilized a 4-0 run to take a 6-5 lead, aided by three Simpson attack errors. The two teams combined for four service errors as the set was tied at 9-9.
Seaman and Antonio combined to stuff Dehryn Brown to take a 15-11 lead. A Spendolini solo block on Brown followed by another Red Hawk attack error opened up a 19-14 lead for HIU.
The Redhawks trimmed the deficit to 20-18, but Simpson's fourth service error of the set and a Travis Donahue ace gave the Royals a four-point advantage. Antonio's kill sealed the 25-20 win as the Royals took a two sets to none lead.
Simpson hit .321 (14-5-28) in set three to turn the tables in its 25-20 victory.
Neither team led by more than two points until a 5-1 Simpson run created a 20-16 lead for the visitors. Diego Chavez and Brown pounded back-to-back kills, and a Jacob Shelton solo block gave the Red Hawks a 23-17 lead. HIU fought back with three straight points, but Simpson scored the last two to earn the win.
Set four ended up being the most exciting of the match, although it looked early on as if HIU might run away with an easy victory. The Royals sped out to a 7-1 lead as Gonzalez Gutierrez and Jah'mi Jeter each posted two kills.
But the Red Hawks reeled off five straight points to whittle the deficit to one. Simpson tied the score at 9-9, and the teams battled through 12 more ties to get to 23-23. Simpson had set point at 25-24, but Seaman and D'Ambrosio paired up for a huge block on Brown for the 25-25 tie.
Spendolini's kill gave HIU match point at 26-25, but the Red Hawks answered with a Shelton kill. Shelton and Ben Stuerman combined to block Spendolini to create another set point at 27-26.
However, Simpson served the ball into the net as the set was tied again at 27-27. Donahue's kill gave the Royals match point at 28-27, and Brown's attack error iced the 29-27 win as HIU overcame 12 attack errors in set four.
HIU improved to 3-9 on the season, while Simpson fell to 12-9.
The Royals resume GSAC play on Friday at Park Gilbert with a 6:00 p.m. first serve.
