No. 10 UC San Diego men’s volleyball (9-5, 0-0 Big West) dominated UC Merced (3-5, 0-1 MPSF) in three sets on Monday, Feb. 16, at LionTree Arena. Coming off back-to-back sweeps of Concordia, the Tritons carried that momentum forward, defeating the Bobcats with set scores of 25-15, 25-21, and 25-15.
The Tritons jumped into the lead early, highlighted by a vicious back-row kill from redshirt junior outside hitter Leo Pravednikov. UCM struggled on serve receive, often sending free balls back over to the Tritons, who took advantage with consistent offensive attacks.
Redshirt senior setter John Luers was the heart and soul of the Tritons’ offense. Regardless of what position the initial pass put him in, he was able to make a few spectacular sets to put UCSD up 19-11. The Tritons reached set point with another kill from Pravednikov, eventually taking it 25-15 with a kill from redshirt freshman middle blocker Ben Warren. The Tritons had 17 kills and no attack errors in a dominant first set. UCM did not record a single block, emphasizing just how precise the Triton offense was.
Redshirt junior outside hitter Josh Ewert dropped in another kill and Warren made a perfectly-timed block to kick off the second set. However, the Tritons’ momentum wouldn’t last long as UCM began to capitalize on their streak of service errors. The Bobcats took their first lead of the match at 14-13, though it was short-lived — UCSD managed to pull away again with a pair of kills from Pravednikov and redshirt senior middle blocker Jim Garrison. Another kill from Garrison, this time from the back row on the outside, finished off the set for the Tritons 25-21.
The third set was all UCSD from the opening whistle. Pravednikov continued his monstrous pace — by the end of the night, he led the Tritons with 14 kills.
“He’s played a lot of balls for us, and he knows exactly what to do when he gets those opportunities,” head coach Brad Rostratter said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “When he can see the court and attack the man from his face, he does a good job being able to put the ball where they’re not.”
The Bobcats were able to build some momentum and cut the lead to one, but the Tritons responded emphatically. Warren dropped in a kill and back-to-back solo blocks. He wasn’t finished, though, proceeding to rack up two more kills to extend the lead 20-14. The Tritons cruised from there. A kill from sophomore setter Tyler Stewart put UCSD on match point, and the Bobcats ultimately ended the game with a service error, giving the Tritons a 25-15 win and their third consecutive sweep.
“How can we get better today, tomorrow, the next day?” Rostratter said. “Because we know that conference play is gonna be an absolute dogfight.”
UCSD traveled north to Atherton to face Menlo College on Saturday, winning in another three-set sweep. The Tritons fell to Vanguard 2-3 at home on Wednesday, before coming back to take Friday’s rematch against Vanguard 3-1. UCSD will be back in action at LionTree Arena against Cal State Northridge on Tuesday.
