'On This Day' No. 11 MVB Team Concludes California Trip with Win Over 2019 National Runner-Up

'On This Day' is a Wells College Athletics feature series taking a look back on events that occurred on this day, Jan. 11, one year ago in 2020.

There had to be thoughts of 'what if' when Wells College faced the University of California Santa Cruz in its own tournament on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz.

Less than a year ago in 2019, the Express might have faced UCSC with a NCCA D-III title berth on the line in the national semifinals. Instead, Wells fell on the short end of a quarterfinal match with Stevens Institute of Technology, while UCSC advanced in its quarterfinal match to eventually finish as the D-III men's volleyball national runner-up. Wells probably came closer to that title berth than most might have predicted given that the unranked Express battled No. 3 Stevens to a 2-2 draw after the first four sets and were just three points away from advancing to face UCSC after holding a 12-11 lead late in the fifth and deciding set.

With that championship experience under their belts, the Express had an opportunity to finally face UCSC – not for a championship berth but in an early season tournament with nothing on the line except a higher ranking in the next national poll.

The Express won its match against the current No. 8 Banana Slugs by 3-2 early Sunday morning EST with winning set scores of 27-25, 25-11 and 15-12. Wells never trailed in the match and held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before winning 3-2. The win should boost the Express into the top-10 in the next national poll for the first time in program history.

Justin Williams was named as the Slug Slam MVP, while Patzer and Undari were named to the all-tournament team. Wells was the lone college to finish undefeated in the tournament at 4-0, with other participants finishing at 3-1 (UCSC), 2-2 (Cal Lutheran), 1-3 (Marymount) and 0-4 (Lakeland).

Four Express players recorded double-digit attack numbers with Patzer leading the way with 19. Zimmerman added 17, Williams 15 and Caden O'Loughlin 11. Of the four, Williams had the highest hitting percentage at .444. Patzer and O'Loughlin both recorded double-doubles after Patzer added a dozen digs and O'Loughlin had 13. Undari finished with a team-high six blocks (one solo) and registered 61 assists in the five-set match.

UC Santa Cruz Boxscore: https://www.wells-express.com/sports/mvball/2019-20/boxscores/20200111_dxvv.xml

Earlier in the day, the Express defeated California Luther by a 3-1 score. The match began and ended with set wins of 25-23 for Wells. Between the opening and ending sets, Wells went up 2-0 with a 25-21 second-set win and dropped its only set of the match in the third set by a 25-15 score.

Team leaders for Wells included a double-double performance by Joe Zimmerman with a team-high 13 digs and 10 kills. Justin Williams added 11 kills with four blocks (one solo). O'Loughlin led the team in kills with 17 while serving a pair of aces. Not far behind O'Loughlin in kills was Robert Patzer with 16.

Calif. Lutheran Boxscore: https://www.wells-express.com/sports/mvball/2019-20/boxscores/20200111_rqy9.xml