VOLLEYBALL ‘mdash; After eight grueling games on the road, the Tritons (7-10, 4-7 MPSF) returned home last week for a tough stretch of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchups. Following a disappointing sweep at the hands of UC Irvine on Feb. 25, the Tritons came back strong against’ No. 9 UCLA on Feb. 28. In front of a packed house at RIMAC Arena, the Tritons showed the MPSF and the nation that they are top notch, sweeping UCLA 30-21, 30-23 and 33-21, dropping the Bruins to No. 11 while improving their ranking to No. 10.
Both games represent the beginning of a huge stretch of tough conference’ matchups’ for UCSD that will ultimately decide the Tritons’ postseason fate. The Tritons have their sights set on the playoffs and hope to battle through the difficult upcoming schedule.’
‘We had a tough loss on Wednesday against UCI, but we came into this game [against UCLA] confident that we could get a much needed win,’ redshirt sophomore outside hitter Will Ehrman said. ‘We played some amazing defense in this game both blocking and playing in the back row. Being in front of a big crowd like that made the win all that much better. The crowd was a huge part of that win as they kept us going with constant energy.’
The Tritons are currently in the meat of their toughest test of the season, scheduled to play five MPSF squads consecutively at home, including the previous two games against UC Irvine and UCLA. Saturday night, the Tritons had a tall order as the bigger and stronger Bruins stepped onto UCSD’s home court. With the support of nearly 1,000 fans ‘mdash; the largest home crowd this season ‘mdash; the shorter UCSD front managed to outblock UCLA by a 12.0 to 10.5 margin, with sophomore middle back Calvin Ross accumulating six of the Tritons’ blocks.
‘Going into the game, we knew we had a great chance to get a win,’ sophomore setter Phil Bannan said. ‘Beating them last year at home and having a close match with them earlier this year gave us the confidence we needed to win
[on Saturday]. Playing at home is always nice, especially when there is a big crowd.’
Ehrman was once again huge for the Tritons with a match-high 14 kills on .458 hitting. Junior outside hitter Jason Spangler added 12 kills of his own. Senior middle back Gerald Houseman had a solid nine kills on .571 hitting and four blocks. Sophomore setter Phil Bannan had a very well-rounded game with 44 assists, three aces and five blocks.
‘This win reaffirms that we can play with any of the teams out there in our league,’ Ehrman said. ‘We’re going to need a good week of practice and hopefully we can do well against Pepperdine and USC.’
‘ UCSD came out with a bang in the first set, opening up to a 20-12 lead on .517 hitting. The Bruins never led in the set, setting the Tritons up for a big night with the 30-21 win.
The second set was back and forth early ‘mdash; tied five times ‘mdash; before the Tritons took control. With the set tied at seven, UCSD pulled away with four straight points on Houseman serves, aided by two Spangler kills, for an 11-7 lead, but the Bruins were held off late as the Tritons took the set 30-23.
A tug of war would best describe the third set, as it included 16 ties and seven lead changes. UCLA put up a strong fight, taking a 15-12 lead early in the set, desperate to avoid a Triton sweep. The Tritons soon pulled even after a Spangler ace and an Ehrman kill. After a 20-20 tie, UCLA regained the lead, scoring consecutive points on a kill and a UCSD error.
After a UCSD timeout, the Tritons scored the next four points, including a crucial block by Ross and Bannan, to lead 24-22. With the score again tied, Ehrman sent down a kill to force a match point. After a service error, a UCSD attack error gave the Bruins a 30-29 lead. However, a UCLA attack error followed by a Spangler kill turned the tables for the Tritons, putting them on top 31-30. The Tritons held on to seal the sweep at 33-31.
The Tritons had completely opposite results against the No. 2 Anteaters, falling in three straight sets 30-25, 30-28 and 30-24. UCSD was outhit .418 to .144 and outblocked by a whopping 13.5 blocks ‘mdash; the Tritons only recorded two ‘mdash; which proved to be the difference in the game.
‘We had a tough loss against UCI, but we came into [the UCLA] game confident that we could get a much needed win,’ Ehrman said of the UCLA win. ‘We played some amazing defense [against UCLA] both blocking and playing in the back row … The crowd was a huge part of that win as they kept us going with constant energy.’
Against the Anteaters, UCSD came out flat in the first set, falling behind by five. The Tritons cut the lead to 20-17 after a Houseman kill, forcing a UC Irvine timeout. Hoping to increase their lead coming out of the timeout, the Anteaters were instead greeted by two Triton points on an error and a kill from junior opposite Frank Fritsch to tighten the score at 21-20. However, UC Irvine never let the Tritons tie the game, eventually winning the set 30-25.
The second set featured nine tied scores and was the closest of the night. The Tritons trailed early 10-7, but rallied back to tie the game at 13 after Fritsch and Ehrman kills. UC Irvine responded with another four point run to put the score at 17-13. The Tritons battled back hard to tie the game at 22, but the Anteaters took the lead on a kill and a block. UCSD would tie the set late, but a Triton error and an Irvine kill gave the Anteaters the match point.
UC Irvine took control in the third set, dominating early on for a 20-13 lead that it never relinquished.
The Tritons head back into MPSF action as they host two tough opponents in No. 5 USC (11-4) and No. 3 Pepperdine (10-2) on March 6 and March 7 at RIMAC Arena.
Readers can contact Cameron Tillisch at [email protected].