After a season of heartbreak, disappointment and even embarrassment, the UCSD men’s volleyball team proved its worth in one of the toughest conferences in the country, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, with its first league win over Stanford University on April 14.
Senior opposite Chris Sayers was a key component to the Tritons’ first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win over Stanford on April 14, tallying 18 kills, 13 digs and six aces.
The Tritons, the obvious underdogs who have played well in their last few games, looked impressive in all four games and came away with a match victory after losing the first game, 31-33, but rebounding to take the next three, 30-22, 30-13, 30-24, to close out the match.
“We came out really strong and fired up,” senior opposite Chris Sayers said after the match. “We just really stepped up tonight.”
Sayers led the Tritons in the upset with 18 kills, 13 digs and six aces. Senior outside hitters Mike Reuter and Jon Daze also contributed with 14 and 12 kills, respectively.
“We really wanted our seniors to show us how it’s done,” head coach Kevin Ring said. “And they had great games.”
The Tritons held the Cardinal to a .157 percentage while hitting .370 for the match, and junior setter Brooks Dierdorff passed the ball with pinpoint accuracy at over .510 percent.
“There was a good energy in the crowd,” Reuter said. “Brooks had a great passing match. He really helped us hit well.”
Game one was a closely fought battle, but UCSD looked like the better team. The Tritons had two opportunities to win the game, but could not put Stanford away. The Cardinal took the lead, 31-32, on a kill by senior opposite Ben Reddy, who had 22 for the match. Stanford went on to win the first game on a UCSD attack error, 31-33.
“We’ve been playing so well of late,” Daze said. “Everybody is executing better and now we’re making strings of good plays instead of a couple here and there.”
In game two, with the teams tied at 11-11, the Tritons took a four-point lead with a small run. Stanford tried to tie it up, cutting the lead in half, but UCSD stayed on top, 22-17, with two Daze aces. The Cardinal could not gain anymore ground, ultimately losing on a Daze kill, 30-22.
“It really helped having two of our main hitters going at the same time and there were a lot of holes in the Stanford blocking because of that,” Sayers said.
Game three was a display of how well the Tritons could play as they dominated Stanford, 30-13. UCSD started the game with a 13-3 run, forcing the Cardinal to call a much-needed timeout.
“It would’ve been great playing like this and have half a season left,” Ring said. “But it’s amazing to see these guys still want to get better this late in the season.”
UCSD held Stanford to -.069 hitting in game three, which also served up 13 aces for the match.
“Tonight the guys played fabulous,” Ring said. “We had a great balance on offense and service tonight was unreal.”
In game four, UCSD had one of its best hitting games of the season, with 19 kills against four errors for a .556 percentage. The Tritons would keep increasing their advantage, at one point leading 27-18 on a Reuter ace. The Cardinal had a little more fight left in them, but not nearly enough as UCSD took the game and the match 30-24.
“It came down to the better team taking care of business,” Ring said. “And we’re the better team, we’ve proved it.”
While the Tritons managed the huge win over Stanford, they could not send their seniors out on top, falling to Pacific University in four games at Senior Night on April 15.
The four seniors, opposite Brenden Bowe, Reuter, Daze and Sayers all received significant playing time against the Tigers in the tough 30-28, 25-30, 22-30, 27-30 loss.
“It’s tremendous for me to see them out on the court enjoying the game and it’s fun to see those four guys out on the floor together,” Ring said.
In game one, the Tritons hit .421 with 19 kills against three errors. The lead changed several times before back-to-back kills by sophomore middle blocker John Mark Wendler, a Tiger error and a Sayers kill finally put UCSD up for good, winning 30-28.
Sayers ended up with 20 kills in his last collegiate match. Dierdorff helped the Triton hitters end the season strong by dishing out 98 assists in the last two matches.
Pacific bounced back, taking game two and game three.
The Tritons led 17-11 in game four after a block, but the Tigers came back to tie it at 20-20. After UCSD took back the lead 26-24, Pacific rallied three-straight points for its first lead of the game at 26-27. Even though the Tritons tied it up once again, the Tigers put the match away in four games with a block assist at 27-30.
The Tritons finished the season with an overall record of 2-27 and 1-21 in the MPSF, a disappointing year. However, the Tritons’ play of late leaves room for hope come next year.
