The UCSD men’s volleyball team continued its longest stretch of road matches this year with stops at No. 3 UC Santa Barbara and No. 9 Cal State Northridge on Feb. 15 and 16. The youthful Tritons played well at times during both matches, but fell to the Gauchos and the Matadors, with both defeats after three games.
Upsets over No. 3 UC Santa Barbara and No. 9 Cal State Northridge didn’t pan out for the Tritons as they dropped both matches in straight sets on Feb. 15 and 16, respectively.
When the Tritons headed to Santa Barbara to take on the Gauchos on Feb. 15, they knew they had to do something to try to contain senior opposite Evan Patak, the American Volleyball Coaches Association national player of the week, who had torched the Tritons in their first meeting in RIMAC Arena on Jan. 27. However, that task proved rather difficult, and Patak and the rest of the Gaucho lineup took the match in three games, 30-21, 30-19, 30-27. Patak was dominant with the serve, scoring seven of the Gauchos’ 11 aces on the night.
“”Their service game really kept the pressure on us and forced us to go out of system,”” head coach Kevin Ring said. “”A few of their servers really brought the heat and we gave up some lengthy runs.””
Freshman outside hitter Will Ehrman led the Tritons with 10 kills, and freshman outside hitter Jason Spangler added nine kills with no hitting errors. Sophomore libero Eric Leserman had four digs for the Tritons, and senior setter Brooks Dierdorff controlled the offensive attack with 31 assists.
UCSD may have lost the match, but Ehrman was still happy with the overall effort the squad put forth.
“”I thought that we actually passed pretty well and were able to stay in system a lot more than usual,”” Ehrman said. “”Patak and the service game hurt us, but we played hard and did a lot of things well.””
Ring credited his team for fighting hard the entire match despite giving up some lengthy runs to the Gauchos.
“”We fought pretty hard for the entirety of the match,”” Ring said. “”We worked for everything we had in that match and got some good performances from some guys.””
After the loss, the Tritons moved on to Northridge, where the No. 9 Matadors were waiting. Each game was hotly contested and the Tritons had several chances to seize control of the match, but they were never able to put it all together and dropped the first three games, 30-27, 30-24, 30-24.
The Tritons came out strong to start the match, and the first game went down to the wire. Freshman middle blocker Frank Fritsch pounded down a kill late in the game to pull within one of the lead, 28-27. Unfortunately, the Matadors were able to muster a resounding response, as they scored consecutive kills to close the first game.
UCSD proved to be resilient in the second game, and the teams traded points before the Matadors were able to gain a 22-20 lead. After that point, Cal State Northridge went on an 8-4 run and closed the second frame out for the two-game lead.
The third game was more of the same, as the Tritons were able to tie the match at 22-22 with a Spangler kill, only to see the Matadors go on a four-point run and take control of the final stanza of the night. The Tritons never got closer than three points for the rest of the game.
Spangler had an outstanding match, leading the Triton attack with 16 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Tim Dietrich provided a spark off the bench and tallied nine kills and four blocks. Fritsch chipped in with nine kills, and Ehrman continued to play well, adding eight kills of his own. Leserman continued to provide the Tritons with solid defense, tallying a match-high 17 digs, and Dierdorff continued to be an assist machine, cranking out 41 in the contest.
After the match, Ring continued to preach the idea that the Tritons must be able to take control and close out games if they want to be successful in the ultra-competitive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
“”We can’t just wait around and hope to stay close in these matches,”” Ring said. “”We need to establish ourselves early and put pressure on our opponents from start to finish.””
Ring was also quick to praise his young squad for its members’ ability to keep their composure and fight hard in some difficult road environments.
“”You are going to have long stretches on the road every season,”” Ring said. “”The guys have done a good job preparing themselves for these matches and have been able to play pretty consistently night in and night out.””
Leserman, who is one of the few veterans on the team, was also impressed with the way the young players have responded to life on the road.
“”The young guys are doing really well with the pressure of playing on the road,”” Leserman said. “”It is sometimes hard to deal with all of the heckling and adversity.””
Ehrman has learned to embrace playing on the road and is always willing to take on a hostile crowd.
“”In the Northridge match, people were screaming and heckling us all night, which was fun,”” Ehrman said. “”Playing these road matches has definitely forced us to elevate our game.””
The Tritons will play one more road contest against California Baptist University on Feb. 20 before returning to RIMAC Arena to take on Cal State Long Beach on Feb. 24.
