Aloha also means goodbye as the No. 15 UCSD men’s volleyball team learned after a quick Hawaii trip in which it dropped two matches by 3-0 scores to the No. 4 University of Hawaii Warriors.
Guardian file
Before a crowd of 4,412 on Jan. 28, the Tritons ran into a Hawaii team that had more offensive weapons than UCSD could handle. The Tritons were able to trade points with the Warriors early in game one, but Hawaii’s .444 hitting percentage proved to be too much as the game wore on and the Warriors grabbed an early lead with a 30-25 victory.
Hawaii dominated game two, as it led by as many as nine points and was able to grab the victory by eight, 30-22.
UCSD showed a renewed sense of resolve in game three and grabbed its first lead of the night mid-game. The lead would not last long however, as the Warriors appeared eager to close out the match. Warrior senior Arri Jeschke served five consecutive points to give Hawaii the cushion it needed to close out the match, 30-25.
The usually balanced Triton offense was heavily focused on senior opposite Jim Waller in the match with Waller picking up 19 of UCSD’s 44 kills and no other player accounting for more than eight kills. The Tritons attacked at a solid .321 clip, but the Warriors put up a very impressive .409 with 49 kills and only 11 errors on 93 attempts.
Given the travel difficulties associated with playing Hawaii, teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation alternate years playing two matches in Hawaii or two at home instead of a home-and-home series each season. So, after a night off, the Tritons and the Warriors prepared to play once again on Jan. 30.
The balance returned to UCSD’s attack in the second match-up with the Warriors, but unfortunately the winning ways did not. Junior outside hitter Adam Toren and reigning MPSF Player of the Week senior middle hitter Kevin Keyser each tallied nine kills with Waller and sophomore outside hitter Jeff Urton adding eight each, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Hawaii’s strong offense.
The Tritons ran out to a 3-0 run to open the first game, but could not hold on as the potent Warrior attack rallied back to take a 30-21 victory.
Game two was tight throughout and UCSD managed to stay within four points for the entire game. The Tritons rallied to tie things up at 29 apiece, but were denied a chance to even the match as the Warriors grabbed the next two points to take the 31-29 win.
Although Hawaii had control of the match, the Tritons refused to quit fighting and it was only on the strength on an incredible Warrior blocking effort that UCSD was denied the win in game three. The Tritons put down an incredible 19 kills in the third game, but they hit only .175 for the game because of 9.5 team blocks by the Warriors. The third game blocking effort pushed Hawaii’s block total to 14.5, while UCSD had only six blocks for the match. On the strength of that blocking, the Warriors escaped with a 32-30 win and the sweep.
UCSD falls to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the MPSF with back-to-back losses. The Tritons return to action on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7 with road matches in Pennsylvania against No. 11 Penn State and No. 14 Lewis University, respectively.
