Another weekend has passed and the UCSD men’s volleyball team has tacked on another two losses to its disappointing season record. The Tritons (0-12 overall, 0-11 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) dropped games to two tough competitors, No. 8 Cal State Northridge and No. 9 UC Santa Barbara.
The Tritons lost to the Gauchos on Feb. 19 in straight sets, 30-27, 30-19, 30-26, just a night after losing to the Matadors, 30-21, 30-26, 30-20. The loss to UC Santa Barbara (8-7 overall, 8-4 MPSF) came at RIMAC Arena, but the home-court advantage did not pay off. In game one, the Tritons trailed despite a healthy attack percentage of .351. The Gauchos outperformed their opponents with a .444 stat.
In game two, UC Santa Barbara fell to a .292 attack percentage, but the Tritons could not step up and take advantage. Rather, UCSD flailed and lost the match, mainly due to an attack percentage of .000.
The final game was the closest of the three. UCSD managed to stay within one point for most of the match, but UC Santa Barbara pulled away for a 30-26 win in the game and a 3-0 win in the match.
The Tritons were out-hit .379 to .196 and out-blocked, 12 to 4. Although UCSD’s team stats were not up to par, some individuals stood out. Sophomore outside hitter Mike Reuter led the way with 13 kills, senior outside hitter Luke Honnette had 10 kills and five digs, senior libero Dickens Tai led in the digs category with 11, and sophomore setter Brooks Dierdorff had 34 assists.
On Feb. 18, the Tritons had difficult task taking on the Matadors (8-6 overall, 4-6 MPSF). Unlike the match against UC Santa Barbara, the Tritons actually led in game one before losing it later. They led 11-8 early on, but the Matadors tied it up later, at 16-16. UCSD was still in position to win the match, however, until Cal State Northridge went on a 14-5 run to win the first game, 30-21. The Matadors’ victory was due to their .289 attack percentage, compared to the Tritons’ stat of .098.
The Tritons kept it close in the second game as well, down by only one point, 16-17. Once again, the Matadors steppped up to the challlenge, going on a 3-0 run to widen their lead to 20-16 before winning the game, 30-26. The second game was the closest of the match in score and in statistics. The Tritons managed to out-hit Cal State Northridge, .267 to .244.
The third game was less to the advantage of the Tritons as the Matadors regained their superior attacking percentage, .194 to .049. Cal State Northridge had an 8-2 lead early on and held it until UCSD started a comeback attempt and cut the lead to 16-12. The run ended there and the Matadors ran away with a 30-20 victory in game three and a straight-set victory in the match.
The Matadors dominated statistically as well as on the court, out-hitting the Tritons .245 to .142 for the match and recording 12.5 team blocks compared to UCSD’s eight.
Honnette, who tops the Tritons for kills this season, led the team with 11 kills against the Matadors. Senior outside hitter Adam Toren did his part with 10 kills and four digs. Tai led the team in assists with 17, while Dierdorff led all Tritons with 35 digs.
Posting an 0-12 record, the Tritons need to start looking for a new way to find their first win. The next opportunity to do so will be at a Feb. 23 away game against Pacific. The Tritons won one game against Pacific earlier this year, but lost the match 1-3. On Feb. 24, the team will travel to Stanford to face the Cardinal, who beat the Tritons in straight sets on Jan. 21.
