On Sunday, Jan. 11, No. 10 UC San Diego men’s volleyball (3-0, 0-0 Big West) swept Rockhurst (1-2, 0-0 GLVC) in a decisive 3-0 victory at LionTree Arena. This match marked UCSD’s third consecutive win, extending the team’s flawless record this season.
UCSD opened the game with a commanding 5-1 lead through three early kills by junior outside hitter Sebastiano Sani. However, the Hawks were able to make proper reads of early spikes, helping them prepare and receive the Tritons’ potential kills to force multiple Triton attack errors.
Despite Rockhurst’s imposing defense, junior outside hitter Josh Ewert’s relentless offensive efforts forced three retaliative kills that tore through the Hawks’ net coverage. The Tritons maintained their lead to close out the first set 25-17.
Neither side built a strong advantage to begin the second set until Triton junior setter Cameron Wurl scored several key kills — leading the offense with pump fakes and decoy hitters — to build a 15-11 advantage. Senior middle blocker Jim Garrison served as a key defensive anchor for the Tritons, blocking powerful spikes and threatening quick attacks. Garrison was an essential two-way player throughout the match, ultimately leading the Tritons to win the second set 25-20.
Entering the third set, the momentum shifted when a Hawk opposite hitter delivered four kill shots to direct the offense in Rockhurst’s favor, taunting the Tritons throughout their early victories. However, the Tritons’ net protection provoked five attack errors by Rockhurst, helping UCSD gain a 10-7 lead entering a timeout.
“The timeouts helped our team to regroup and know what to change,” Sani said to The UCSD Guardian in a postgame interview. “The other team was talking smack. … It lit a fire in our team. It made us want to win even more.”
The Tritons built a dominant lead late in the match, going 15-5 down the stretch with four service aces to close out the game in a blowout 25-12 set victory.
The Tritons will play back-to-back matches on the road against No. 8 BYU on Friday, Jan. 16, and Saturday, Jan. 17.
“We have a really good challenge this weekend,” Sani said. “As long as we play like we did today, we can beat anybody.”
