Coming off a thrilling match against Princeton University for its first win of the season, the UCSD men’s volleyball team lost to No. 9 UC Santa Barbara in straight games on Feb. 2.
The loss kept the Tritons winless in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and dropped them to 1-8 overall for the season, while the Gauchos improved to 5-6 (4-4 in the MPSF).
“Offensively, we were pretty good tonight, but what we didn’t do was block the ball,” coach Kevin Ring said. “They hit for too high of a percentage.”
Led by sophomore outside hitter Russ Hardy, who had 13 kills, and senior outside hitter Jon Daze, who had 10, UCSD hit .287 for the match. UC Santa Barbara, however, hit at a much higher percentage of .533 with the help of junior outside hitter Aaron Richman’s 16 kills.
The Tritons came out flat and lacked energy from game one. They fell behind early, but pulled to within two points on five different occasions. However, the Gauchos didn’t let it get any closer and took the first game 24-30.
In game two, UCSB hit at a .609 clip, as UCSD was never really in the game and lost 23-30.
Game three was the most competitive, but untimely, unforced errors ruined many Triton runs and gave the Gauchos a 24-30 win in game three and a 3-0 win in the match.
The night before, the Tritons were able to deliver an at-home win against Princeton for Ring’s first victory as head coach. After the game, Ring told his players that he appreciated their effort in the matchup.
“We play in such a competitive schedule, so any win is big for us,” Ring said.
Last season, the Tritons didn’t get their first win until March 9 against California Baptist University 17 games into the season. This year’s team hopes it can continue to do better than last year’s team, which needed 22 games to defeat a MPSF team.
Senior opposite Chris Sayers provided a lot of energy and aggressive play with a match-high 19 kills and hit at a .400 clip. Daze added 12 kills as the Tritons out-blocked their opponent 15-9. Sophomore libero Joseph Sexton had 11 digs while junior setter Brooks Dierdorff ran the offense with 50 assists.
With several of their players from the San Diego area, the Tiger fans outnumbered the Triton fans. In game one, there were nine ties and it went back and forth, but ultimately Princeton received a lot more energy from its crowd to put the game away 27-30 on a kill by freshman middle blocker Michael Vincent.
Game two started with a 10-4 Triton run spraked by sophomore middle blocker John Mark Wendler and a block by sophomore outside hitter Russ Hardy. As the Tigers cut the deficit to only two points, two power kills by Sayers cemented the 30-27 win for UCSD.
“Last game, we came out real flat against University of Southern California, so we addressed that and everyone just stepped up their game,” Daze said.
UCSD played its best game of the year statistically in game three, hitting a .406 clip to Princeton’s .156. The Tigers weren’t able to keep up with Sayers’ huge kills, which stopped runs and fired up the crowd. Hardy ended the game with a kill for a 30-21 UCSD victory, putting the Tritons up 2-1 for the match.
“[The Tritons] have more athleticism in their game, we just couldn’t handle them,” Princeton coach Glenn Nelson said.
Princeton came out strong in game four, leading 8-10, but five-straight points capped by a Sayers ace put the Tritons at ease. The Tigers would get no closer than three points as the Tritons cruised to a win, 30-23.
“It takes a little pressure off,” Daze said. “It’s a good solid win.”
UCSD finally gets a little time off before heading out on the road to face Long Beach State on Feb. 10.
