A week after their upset of then 10th-ranked Long Beach State University, the Tritons nearly pulled off an even bigger upset against No. 7 Stanford University before losing in five games last Wednesday. UCSD continued its tough weekend with losses to sixth-ranked UC Santa Barbara and No. 13 Cal State Northridge.
Guardian
At RIMAC Arena, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week Jim Waller slammed a career-high 31 kills to lead the Tritons, as they came back after falling behind 0-2 by losing the first two games 28-30 and 25-30.
In game one, the Tritons missed the opportunity to take control of the game.
“”I thought we played really well,”” said head coach Ron Larsen. “”I thought that we probably should have won game one and that changed the complexion of the game.””
In the third game, UCSD jumped out to a 9-4 lead and never looked back, at one point leading 16-9 before a Cardinal run brought the team to within two at 20-22. However, strong play by Waller and Stanford errors hurt the Cardinal and closed out the game for the Tritons. UCSD posted a .394 hitting percentage, and had 19 kills (nine by Waller) to the Cardinal’s 12 to stave off Stanford and swing the momentum toward the Tritons.
Game four went back and forth between the Tritons and the Cardinal, as neither team was able to gain a bigger lead than three throughout the whole set. After the 10th tie of the match at 26 apiece, UCSD received an ace by junior Eric Perrine, and a subsequent block by Griffin Cogorno and Brian Foott gave the Tritons a 28-26 advantage. After a Cardinal point narrowed the lead to one, two straight kills by Waller sealed the second-straight game for UCSD and tied the match at two games each.
However, the fifth game belonged to Cardinal William Curtis, who decimated the Tritons with six straight service points after the two teams had battled to a 5-5 tie. UCSD was plagued with errors, losing the game 15-8, and the match. In the last set the Tritons had seven errors and finished with a hitting percentage of -.056.
“”We got to rally score in the last game and realized it was won or lost on errors,”” Larsen said. “”We couldn’t afford to have any errors and we had too many.””
Friday night the Tritons had no such aspirations, as the 12-5 Banana Slugs handed UCSD a straight-set loss 24-30, 27-30, 22-30.
UCSB hit .453 on the night, led by outside hitter Jan Carlo Zegarra and opposite Ben Koski, who had 15 and 11 kills, respectively.
Waller again had the match-high for kills, finishing with 16, along with five digs. Cogorno added 14 kills, while Hove contributed 38 assists.
After outblocking Stanford 10-8.5 on Wednesday, the Tritons found themselves on the other side of the net as they posted only four blocks to the Banana Slugs’ 13.5.
“”They are a really good team,”” Larsen said. “”The second game we were in control, then one of their weaker servers went back and scored six straight points. We can’t afford to do that. You don’t give up points like that and expect to win.””
The Tritons suffered a major blow to the team in the second game, as setter Jordan Hove injured his knee and will be out indefinitely.
Junior Matthew Miller replaced Hove Friday, and Hove’s absence was immediately noticeable.
“”Team chemistry is fragile,”” Larsen said. “”Matt has different ideas and wants to do different things out there.””
The next night against 13th-ranked Cal State Northridge, the Tritons couldn’t fare much better, as they were swept 30-20, 32-30, 30-16.
In the first game, the Matadors jumped on the Tritons, taking a 16-8 lead behind the strong play of Eckhard Walter, who finished with 23 kills on the day. A kill by Nils Nielson closed out the 30-20 victory for Northridge.
In the second set, down 1-3, the Tritons reeled off seven straight points to take a commanding lead. After leading as late as 17-11, the Matadors, led by Walter and J.P. Jandreau, picked up their level of play and quickly pulled within 19-21.
“”We gave them opportunities and good teams take charge of opportunities,”” Larsen said. “”They did a really good job of taking advantage.””
Errors by Northridge kept the Tritons ahead until an error by Waller tied the score 28-28. After a Waller kill put UCSD up 30-29, consecutive errors by Adam Toren and Cogorno, combined with a Walter service ace, sealed the 32-30 win for the Matadors.
The third saw the disheartened Tritons hit a .057, while Northridge had only two errors and hit a blazing .500 to finish off the Tritons.
“”We’re always working so hard to do what we do and compete so hard, sometimes there’s a little bit of a letdown [at the end of matches],”” Larsen said. “”We don’t have a lot of subs come off the bench and make a difference for us.””
With the three losses, the Tritons fall to 3-16 overall and 1-15 in MPSF, while the Matadors improve to 11-8 overall.
