When No. 14 UCSD men’s volleyball team returned to sunny Southern California, UCLA and UC Irvine dropped the road-weary Tritons on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14, respectively. UCSD is now 5-7 overall and 2-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The Tritons returned to MPSF play after splitting two matches at the Penn State Invitational and were promptly greeted by No. 1 UCLA. UCSD looked poised to take down the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion, opening strong and taking the first game, 30-28. The Tritons were strong offensively, putting down 17 kills with four errors on 33 attempts for a .394 attacking percentage to UCLA’s .300. Unfortunately, the Tritons were unable to maintain their opening-game pace.
UCSD attacked at a .163 clip for the rest of the match, while the Bruins hit a staggering .414 in games two, three and four, including an astounding 27 kills in the fourth game for 30-18, 30-18 and 30-24 wins. UCLA middle hitter Chris Pena led all players with 20 kills on 30 attempts with no errors for a .667 attacking percentage.
For the Tritons, sophomore outside hitter Jeff Urton and junior outside hitter Adam Toren notched double-digit kill totals with 15 and 12, respectively. Junior libero Dickens Tai had a match-high 15 digs and junior setter Nate Jones had 46 assists.
The following night, UCSD traveled down the road to face No. 8 UC Irvine, but the Tritons were once again unable to get on track. The Tritons hit .170 compared to the Anteaters’ .311, as UC Irvine took the sweep 30-25, 30-26 and 31-29.
UCSD’s best chance to steal a game came in the third frame of the evening in which there were 22 ties and nine lead changes. The Anteaters held off the Triton charge at the end, however, and ended the match, 31-29.
Freshman Brooks Dierdorff assumed the primary setting responsibilities and distributed 29 assists on the match. Senior opposite Jim Waller led UCSD with 14 kills on the evening. UC Irvine’s Jimmy Pelzel had a match-high 19 kills.
The Anteaters dominated in the blocking department, holding a 13-5.5 advantage in total blocks for the match.
The Tritons return to action Feb. 17 at No. 4 Pepperdine before returning home from their seven-game road trip on Feb. 20 to face Division III La Verne.
