FLAME THROWERS

By Brandon Petersen

The Warriors are straight up on fire.

That was bad news for the Firestorm Friday evening as the Westcliff men's volleyball team extinguished the flames in four, 25-10, 25-12, 26-28, 25-16.

A whole lot is going right for the No. 8 Warriors, who at this point are 6-1 having sliced through two straight RV opponents like a hot knife through warm butter.

But things will get decidedly tougher on Sunday when Westcliff travels to Mesa to take on rival Benedictine, which is currently rated No. 7 in the nation.

It should be a showdown of epic proportions.

Not so much on Friday as the Warriors raced out to a 2-0 lead in the blink of an eye.

Surprise, surprise, Gabriel Pizza led the way, providing 16 kills, eight digs and six service aces for his second-straight superstar outing.

Rodolfo Biegelmeyer turned in 11 kills and three digs, while showing out with five service aces.

Tom Dempsey (nine digs) and Connor McCann (block) chimed in with eight and seven kills respectively.

Pawel Tuz (23 assists) and Nikos Kalagsadis (18 assists) split time in the middle for the second straight match. The Warriors are absolutely stacked at setter between the two.

Jacob Bulosan has seen his role increase this year, and he has responded. Friday, Bulosan was money on the defensive end, coming up with six digs.

Michael Schoffstall (two digs) and Sebastian Ignaczak (three digs) also provided quality defense.

Tiago Silva patrolled the defensive middle once again and turned in a pair of blocks and a pair of kills.

First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.

After bailing out of the Cal Pac, BenU is now in the GSAC, and if you're so inclined to pay for that league's streaming service, you can here: https://www.gsacsportsnetwork.com/benadictinemesa/?S=benedictinemesa

If not, check back right here for full results Sunday.