VOLLEYBALL — After suffering another pair of losses over the
three-day weekend, two nonconference games may be just the antidote for the
UCSD men’s volleyball team.
The Tritons were victorious in only one of their last six
and are in dire need of a momentum change. Last week’s matches at No. 9
University of Southern California and No. 7 Pepperdine University were no help
as UCSD was swept 36-34, 30-23, 30-20 and 30-22, 30-20, 30-24, respectively.
In their match at USC on Feb. 13, the Tritons battled hard
in game one, siding out nine consecutive times to push late into the game
before the Trojans closed it with an ace. In games two and three, the Tritons
could not bounce back, and once again witnessed a sweep at the hands of a
powerhouse Division-I school.
Head Coach Kevin Ring felt the teams battled hard, but the
Trojans played just a little better.
“I thought we played well for stretches,” he said. “We sided
out, preventing the game from ending about nine times, and we battled hard.”
The Pepperdine match proved little different from the one
the night before. The Tritons didn’t match up as well as they did in their
first contest against the Waves this season, when the Waves’ All-American was
missing.
“We could’ve done some things better on our side,” Ring
said. “We totaled five and a half blocks but they all came in the third game.
Our hitters didn’t always take care of their swings and that was the
difference.”
Ring also felt that there were stretches where the team
played well, but couldn’t put together a complete match.
“We’re getting one or one-and-a-half games, but we’re not
playing a full match of what I call good volleyball,” he said. “We’re trying to
get a little better blocking and strengthen our sideout game to allow us to go
on runs. You have to slow down the other side and we just haven’t been able to
do that.”
The two losses drop UCSD to 4-10 on the season with a single
victory in conference play. Despite the dismal numbers, Ring continues to reiterate
that this year’s team is still young and is still developing the finer aspects
of the game.
“One aspect of our game that can make a big difference right
now is blocking,” he said. “A block has a bigger effect than just that one
point. Opposing hitters get pressed and it forces errors. Our middle blockers
are young and it’s a skill that takes a while to become proficient at.”
Another area that Ring pointed to was the sideout game. He
believes that getting on runs where the team can get four to six sideouts in
row will make a huge difference.
The development continues this week when the Tritons face
2003
Feb. 22 and No. 11 Loyola-Chicago University on Feb. 23.
Although UCSD is 0-4 all-time against Lewis, Ring believes
that this year’s squad offers a good opportunity to change that.
“We’re going through the [scouting reports] right now,” he
said. “Lewis has been playing some top opponents close but isn’t comparable to
the upper teams in the [MPSF].”
Last season, the Flyers outlasted the Tritons in five games
at RIMAC Arena. Lewis has faced two MPSF teams this year, losing both matches.
The Tritons then travel to face Loyola-Chicago, a team that
they have not seen since 2005, when the Ramblers trampled UCSD in a three-game
sweep. UCSD’s lone victory against Loyola-Chicago came back in 1996.
The Ramblers are off to a solid start in the Midwest
Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and three of their losses have come in
five games. Ring noted how competitive Loyola-Chicago has been against good
teams and doesn’t want to treat the contest any different than a normal
conference match.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s conference or nonconference,
our goal is to win both matches,” he said. “We had an open weekend in our
schedule and filled it with two competitive teams.”
The Tritons will travel away from California for only the
second time this season and while Ring said traveling takes its toll, he
expects the team to perform well. The trip to
Tritons will return home for a stretch of nine games at RIMAC Arena.
