MEN’S VOLLEYBALL ‘mdash; The Tritons split two games against top 10 teams on the road over the weekend. UCSD (4-6, 2-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) defeated No. 10 UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 6 at the Thunderdome before falling to No. 4 Cal State Northridge on Feb. 7.
The Tritons, who were previously unranked, entered their game against UC Santa Barbara ranked 15th in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Asssociation Division I-II Men’s Top 15 poll.
‘The No. 15 ranking is nice,’ senior libero Eric Leserman said. ‘It shows us that our successes are respected by the volleyball community. However, we are not satisfied with that.’
After beating UC Santa Barbara, the Tritons carried their confidence to Northridge Saturday night at the Matadome. UCSD, looking to make another MPSF upset, was instead swept at the hands of the Matadors.
In the first set, Cal State Northridge scored nine of the first 12 points and the Tritons never got closer than 13-10. The Matadors went on a 6-1 run to close the match out at 30-20.
The second set was the Tritons’ most competitive, as they led 13-10 after a kill by sophomore middle back Calvin Ross. Again, the Tritons went ahead 17-15 after a redshirt sophomore middle back Adrian Guthals kill. Then, Cal State Northridge scored five straight points, capitalizing on four UCSD errors. With the Tritons trailing 22-20, the Matadors scored consecutively for a four-point lead. The Tritons fought back to within 26-23, but were held off by the Matadors, who scored the last four points of the set, winning 30-23.
Cal State Northridge dominated the third set, sealing the deal at 30-21.
The Matadors controlled most of the game ‘mdash; hitting at a .446 clip ‘mdash; while the Tritons managed a measly .086 hitting percentage. The Tritons were led by sophomore outside hitter Joel Davidson, who had eight kills on .400 hitting; no other Triton had five kills on the night.
‘When we went to Northridge, their powerful serves really got us into trouble, and we were never able to get into a consistent side-out rhythm,’ redshirt sophomore outside hitter Will Ehrman said. ‘That was really our biggest problem in that match as they were able to make huge runs behind their big serves.’
Guthals and Spangler recorded five kills apiece in the defeat. Guthals added three blocks and Spangler was perfect in 23 receptions. Fritsch was one of five Tritons to record at least five kills, pounding down 23. Bannan had a team-high 64 assists, along with eight digs and nine blocks, while Leserman ha
d a season-high 17 digs.
Blocking was the key to a five set match with UC Santa Barbara that ended up as an impressive victory for UCSD. The No. 15 Tritons and No. 10 Gauchos engaged in a well-fought battle, ending in UCSD’s favor: 30-22, 30-24, 30-32, 22-30 and 15-13.
The Tritons had a season-high 17.5 team blocks in the match as Guthals led the assault with nine blocks and 10 kills.
During the first set, the Tritons jumped out of the gates for a five-point lead at 15-10 after a Guthals kill. UC Santa Barbara would come back to cut the lead to 20-17 before Ross and Ehrman fired down kills to boost UCSD’s lead to 22-17. Leading 24-20, the Tritons ended the set on a 6-2 run, scoring their final three points on block assists by Guthals and Bannan at 30-22.
The second set was led by the middles as UCSD came out strong again for a 24-17 lead over the Gauchos. UC Santa Barbara would not go down quietly, coming back within 24-20 before a Ross kill combined with a Gaucho error put the Tritons on top 27-22. UC Santa Barbara battled during the final minutes of the set, coming within 27-24. But a kill from junior opposite hitter Frank Fritsch and a block from junior outside hitter Jason Spangler forced a set point. The Tritons earned the set win on a final score of 30-24.
UCSD looked to sweep UC Santa Barbara after jumping out to a 17-11 lead in the third set, but the Gauchos would not go down without a fight, tying the set at 23. The game was a back-and-forth grudge match with the score tied again at 30. With a block, UC Santa Barbara took the set at 32-30 to force a fourth.
Set number four was controlled by UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos jumped out to a 25-18 lead and locked up the victory with a final score of 30-22.
In the decisive fifth set, the Tritons opened up a 4-0 lead on Fritsch’s serving. After a Bannan kill and solo block, the Tritons cruised ahead 12-8. With the lead at 14-10, UC Santa Barbara fought back, scoring three straight points and coming within one at 14-13. The Tritons, however, closed the door on the Gauchos as Ross threw down the match-ending kill at 15-13.
Ehrman had another stellar game with 14 kills, while Ross had 13 kills on .500 hitting. Spangler and Guthals had 10 kills each.
UCSD goes back to work next week when it heads to Springfield, Mass., for the Hall of Fame Classic on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14.
‘We are in the middle of a long road trip right now so it will be a good thing for us to get back in the gym and hammer out some of the kinks so we can continue our success in Massachusetts,’ Ehrman said.
Readers can contact Cameron Tillisch at [email protected].