Cal Baptist University’s men’s volleyball team may not be an NCAA team, but it has proved recently that its status doesn’t reflect its playing ability. In the past week, the Lancers have defeated NCAA Division I No. 1 Brigham Young University and UC Santa Cruz — so the Tritons knew they would be in for a battle when they traveled to Riverside to play a big match on Feb. 20.
The Tritons proved to be worthy competition the entire night, but fell to the No. 1 team in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics play in four games, 21-30, 30-28, 33-35, 24-30. UCSD was led by the usual players, as freshman outside hitter Will Ehrman powered in 21 kills while hitting .361 and freshman middle blocker Frank Fritsch chipped in with 14 kills of his own. Senior setter Brooks Dierdorff continued to provide a steadying influence by dishing out 48 assists to become UCSD’s all-time assists leader in men’s volleyball.
In the first game of the match, the Tritons and Lancers battled back and forth as neither team was able to gain an edge early.
Further into the game, Cal Baptist University was able to jump out to a 20-17 lead, and several UCSD hitting errors allowed the Lancers to stretch a three-point lead into a six-point lead at a score of 24-18.
The Lancers eventually finished off the Tritons with a three-point run to claim the first set. The Tritons were plagued by nine hitting errors that repeatedly shifted the momentum in favor of the Lancers.
The second game was hotly contested and featured several ties and lead changes. The Lancers held the lead late in the match at 25-22, but the Tritons clawed their way back and tied the match at 26. Then it was the Lancers’ turn to make a run as they took a 28-27 lead.
However, the Tritons would not be deterred and freshman middle blocker Frank Fritsch hammered two consecutive kills to give the Tritons the game.
Dierdorff came out fired up in the second game and showed the importance of having a senior leader on the team. The veteran setter was all over the court and accounted for five of the Tritons’ six blocks in the game.
UCSD rocketed 16 kills in the second frame and finished with an impressive .361 hitting average, forcing the Lancers to commit 11 hitting errors. Head coach Kevin Ring was proud of the way his team captain stepped up throughout the night.
“”Brooks did a really nice job running the offense the entire night,”” Ring said. “”He proved his consistency by becoming the all-time assist leader in UCSD history.””
In game three, the Tritons had several chances to take the lead in the match but were unable to capitalize on three game points. The UCSD players had the Lancers right where they wanted them as they lead by a score of 33-32, but the boys from Cal Baptist University were able to capitalize on a pair of Triton hitting errors and eventually took the game 35-33.
The Lancers had secured the momentum in game three and were able to carry it over to the final game as they jumped out to an early 6-2 lead. The Tritons were unable to get the offense going and only hit .107 in the final stanza as Cal Baptist University cruised to a 30-24 win and secured the match.
Ring was pleased with his team’s effort in the match, but believes that the Tritons could have put more pressure on the Lancers.
“”We were able to get side-outs consistently, but then we could not capitalize with our serves,”” Ring said. “”We let them off the hook a lot and if we want to step up to the next level we need to find a way to put continued pressure on these teams.””
Ehrman blamed the team’s struggles on offensive deficiencies that have continually plagued it.
“”We had some major passing breakdowns at the end of games, some of which I will take responsibility for,”” Ehrman said. “”That is one area of our game we really need to improve.””
The match was the final stop on a lengthy road trip for Tritons, a stretch that resulted in four losses in five matches. Despite the struggles, the morale of the team still seems to be high.
“”Our confidence is still very good,”” Ehrman said. “”We come into every match knowing we should win, and I think we have proved that we can be competitive with everybody.””
The Tritons will finally return home when they take on Cal State Long Beach at RIMAC Arena on Feb. 24. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.