UC San Diego men’s volleyball (8-2, 0-0 Big West) took down the Lincoln Memorial University Railsplitters (7-1) in straight sets, 25-20, 25-21, 26-24, breaking the Railsplitters’ undefeated season on Tuesday night at LionTree Arena.
The match saw the Railsplitters come out West for their second-ever match against UCSD. Prior to the game, the Tennessee-based team was ranked No. 19 to the Tritons’ No. 13, who looked to regain their momentum following a tough 3-2 loss in their last match against Loyola Chicago on Feb. 1.
Lincoln Memorial came into the match brimming with confidence from the undefeated seven-game streak that began their season. Playing on enemy turf didn’t intimidate them; the few but boisterous Railsplitters on the bench chanted “LMU, LMU!” as they scored on the first serve.
However, the Tritons were more than happy to crush their hopes. Redshirt junior outside hitter Josh Schellinger quickly netted a kill, while junior outside hitter Leo Pravednikov fired off two service aces to put the Tritons in the lead. The trio of points prompted triumphant shouts of “Boom! Boom! Boom!” from the UCSD bench.
The cheers continued as UCSD stayed in the lead. Armed with Pravednikov and senior opposite hitter Anthony Cherfan, the Tritons had power on their side. The two racked up a total of 27 kills in the match.
They did not just overpower the Railsplitters — Cherfan fooled them too. He tore apart Lincoln Memorial’s defense with sudden tips, taking the Railsplitters by surprise and extending UCSD’s early 11-5 lead.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Peter Selcho fired off a powerful serve that sent two Railsplitters diving to the floor in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the ball alive, bringing UCSD up 19-12. The Tritons maintained a 7-point lead until late in the set, when their service errors gifted the Railsplitters an opportunity to close the gap. But Lincoln Memorial was too far behind to pose a threat to UCSD’s offense. In the face of Cherfan and Schellinger’s spiking spree, the Lincoln Memorial bench seemed to lose its voice.
A Cherfan hit scored the set-winning point, and UCSD took the first set 25-20. It was the Tritons’ most dominant set of the match, boasting a .500 hitting percentage.
“It’s nice to see [opposing] teams come out with that fire,” Cherfan said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “To them, it’s like the Super Bowl. This match is with the toughest team on their schedule. I’m glad that they had that fiery spirit and that competitiveness.”
That spirit peaked in the second and third sets, which proved to be even more competitive than UCSD’s sweeping first set.
Thanks to vital blocks from redshirt junior middle blocker Jim Garrison and relentless kills from Cherfan, the Tritons maintained their early momentum to build a sizable lead to start off the second set. Pravednikov scored another service ace to bring the score to 17-7 in UCSD’s favor, but the Tritons’ performance peaked there. The Railsplitters managed to score 8 points in the time that UCSD scored three — two of which came from Railsplitter errors.
Lincoln Memorial’s offense had stepped up, closing the gap to 22-19. As the Tritons’ fiery first-set pace slowed, their lead narrowed. Feeling the pressure, Cherfan quickly put away a kill on an assist from graduate student setter Bryce Dvorak. From there, a Railsplitter service error and a spike from Dvorak allowed the Tritons to close out the set in their favor, 25-21.
“We just have to bring it in as a squad and remind ourselves why we’re here and what our goal is as a team,” Cherfan said. “As we keep striving forward and taking that step forward, it will allow us to play to the best of our abilities.”
The Railsplitters were undaunted by the two-set deficit. They took a narrow 5-4 lead at the beginning of the third set, determined to push the Tritons out of a straight-set victory, but a service ace from Dvorak and a couple of Lincoln Memorial attack errors disrupted their momentum.
UCSD capitalized on Lincoln Memorial’s blunders, forging a 5-point lead from a Railsplitter service error and a kill from Pravednikov and Garrison each.
But at the end of the third set, UCSD began to lag behind once again. Two Triton service errors and an attack error gifted the Railsplitters the points they needed to tie the set 22-22. When Schellinger slammed down a kill, it was quickly matched by Lincoln Memorial. Tied at 23-23 and 24-24, the nail-biting third set stretched on, within the reach of either team.
Dvorak kept his calm, putting powerhouse offensive hitters like Cherfan and Pravednikov in position to score. As the Railsplitters kept up the pressure on the Tritons, Dvorak, who racked up 37 assists during the game, did what he does best — set up his teammates’ spikes. Pravednikov slammed one down to bring the Tritons up 25-24, and Cherfan followed suit to score the game-winning point.
“Honestly, I even caught myself going back a little bit during the last set, but a lot of the guys on the court picked each other up,” Cherfan said. “And LMU put on a really good fight at the end. I appreciated that dog fight, but at the end of the day, it seems like the better team won.”
Cherfan led the Tritons in kills, finishing with 15. His total was followed closely by Schellinger and Pravednikov, who put up 12 and eight, respectively. The Tritons’ powerful serves allowed them to pick up five service aces over the course of the game. UCSD easily maintained a .402 hitting percentage to Lincoln Memorial’s .241, finding its stride on home turf again before the next few weeks of travel games.
The Tritons will head to Costa Mesa to face Vanguard University on Friday, Feb. 7, in a rematch of their straight-set victory on Jan. 24. UCSD will continue to bring the heat against Grand Canyon University in Phoenix on Feb. 14 and 15.
