The team (0-11) is still in search of its first season win
The UCSD men’s volleyball team remains winless on the season after falling to Stanford and the University of the Pacific last week. The Tritons fell in three sets to No. 8 Stanford on Friday, Feb. 7, then watched victory slip away again the following night in a four-set match against the University of the Pacific. UCSD is now 0–11 overall and 0–10 in the Mountain Pacific Sport Federation.
On Friday night, the Tritons could not keep up with conference opponent Stanford. The Cardinals scored the first three points of the match and trotted out to a 7–1 lead. Good serves forced mistakes from the Triton squad, and the Cardinals capitalized, winning the set 25–14.
UCSD took its only lead of the contest at 3–2 in game two, but three straight points gave Stanford the edge. Triton head coach Kevin Ring called for time when UCSD was down 10–5, but the team never gapped the deficit, falling by a final score of 25–16.
Stanford continued to dominate into the third set and took an early 4–1 lead. As the set progressed, Stanford delivered from the service line and closed out the match, winning the set 25–16.
“Stanford is one of the more well-rounded teams in our conference, and they showed it in our match,” Ring said. “We opened game one passing well and took some good swings, but Stanford was very good defensively as well as in transition.”
The following night, UCSD traveled to Stockton to face the University of the Pacific with both teams coming into the match looking for their first conference victory of the season.
In the first set, the Tritons found themselves with a 17–12 point advantage. The Tigers made a run, but UCSD closed out the game by a score of 25–22 with a kill by redshirt junior and outside hitter Scot Metzger.
In the second set, the Tigers took an early lead. UCSD battled back and closed the score to within one point at 20–19, but ultimately fell by a score of 25–21. The third (25–23) and fourth (25–23) set played out similarly for the Tritons, leaving UCSD with their eleventh loss this season.
“We won game one and were very competitive in the rest of the games, but it was not enough,” Ring said. “There were a number of plays throughout the night that were well within our control to better execute. As we get better in those moments we’ll turn a match like this in our favor.”
On a positive note, UCSD received great production from its wing attackers in the two matches. Metzger and senior setter Mike Brunsting both had 11 kills, while senior outside hitter Nick Iorfino added seven as well.
The Tritons return home this weekend with No. 5 USC visiting Friday, Feb. 14 and No. 3 Pepperdine University visiting Saturday, Feb. 15. Both matches will be played at 7 p.m. at RIMAC Arena.
