After a tough season, it seems only fitting that the Triton men’s volleyball team should run into two red-hot teams in its final home weekend. UCSD fell 3-0 in back-to-back matches against University of the Pacific and Stanford in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play April 4 and April 5 after picking up a sloppy nonconference win March 31 against La Verne, leaving the Tritons 6-20 overall, 1-19 in the MPSF.
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The Pacific Tigers came into UCSD ranked fourth in the nation and proved that ranking is just with a 30-22, 30-27, 30-24 sweep. Pacific received a strong performance by Nils Dauburs, who had 14 kills and no errors on 17 attempts for a .824 attacking percentage. The Tigers hit .354 as a team, compared to the Tritons’ .260, and never seemed to be genuinely challenged.
UCSD’s best chance came in the second game when a seesaw battle took place that brought the score to 27-27. Showing cool under pressure that the Tritons have lacked for most of this season, Pacific got the side out it needed and then used two UCSD errors to close out the game.
The Tritons experienced their most offensive success running plays through the middle, but since passing started to falter late in the match, that strategy became more difficult to execute.
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“”A lot of times, it goes back to when it gets really tight, everyone gets tentative about things, and things start to deteriorate,”” said UCSD middle blocker Kevin Keyser. “”Then, we can’t do what’s working for us.””
Jim Waller’s 15 kills, Eric Perrine’s 36 assists, Dickens Tai’s eight digs and Keyser’s six blocks led the Tritons.
The following night against Stanford, UCSD celebrated Senior Night with the final home matches for Perrine, Chris Mortimer, Brian Foott and James Kimball. The Cardinal, however, quickly quelled whatever extra energy or excitement was generated. Stanford pulled out to a 15-4 lead early and put up an intimidating block that forced UCSD into an abundance of errors. The Cardinal closed out the game 30-20.
The second game seemed to be a carbon copy of the first with Stanford once again running out to a 15-4 lead and finishing the game 30-20.
The Tritons had their best chance in the third game, since they kept the game close throughout. At 25-25 however, the Cardinal were able to push three points on their serve and got the cushion that was needed to win, 30-27.
After the match, fourth-year UCSD head coach Ron Larsen praised Stanford for its strong play.
“”I think they came in really focused and played outstanding, the first two games particularly. They got out and served better than they have all year. That’s the best I’ve seen a Stanford team play since I’ve been here,”” Larsen said.
Despite the tough situation, the Tritons have a clear goal for this final week of their season.
“”We’ve got to come in ready for practice, and we’ve got to practice hard. We’ve got two matches against two teams that we could beat. If we win those matches, we’ll be put ahead of [USC] and then that would do a lot of good for our program,”” Perrine said.
The Tritons’ March 31 match against the La Verne was a sloppy match in which UCSD played down to its inferior opponent, but pulled out the win 32-30, 30-20 and 30-24. La Verne hit -.012 for the match, racking up more errors than kills and making the Tritons’ .253 effort seem terrific in comparison. Waller led the Tritons with 14 kills, Perrine had 32 assists and Mortimer picked up 10 digs. The match was played at La Verne in what one player described as a “”circus tent”” with unreasonably warm temperatures.
UCSD’s final weekend of the season is April 12 and April 13 against CSU Northridge and UC Santa Barbara. Despite the Tritons’ lack of success thus far, they remain optimistic.
“”We really have to go in with the mindset that we have nothing to lose,”” Mortimer said. “”They’re both very beatable teams.””
