UCSD men’s volleyball sank in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings this weekend, dropping a four-game match with University of Southern California and a three-game match with Pepperdine University.

As the only Division II team in the MPSF — men’s volleyball has an open National Collegiate Athletic Association division — UCSD enters every match as the underdog, but it managed to give No. 12 USC a scare.

The Tritons lost the first game only 28-30, but then took the Trojans by the same score in the second game. The third and fourth games ended 30-20 and 30-23, respectively.

“”We just had a dropoff after the first two games,”” UCSD head coach Ron Larsen said. “”Our hitting percentages went down and we just weren’t efficient.””

The Tritons had a team attack percentage of .258 and .382 in the first two matches. The team hit .231 and .259 in the latter two games.

Jim Waller led UCSD with 22 kills and a .304 attack percentage, while Eric Perrine added 10 with an attack percentage of .529.

“”Our middles were strong and Eric [Perrine] played well, especially in the first and second games,”” Larsen said.

The Trojans were led by Brook Billings, who had 23 kills, and Josh Day, who had 19 kills.

After the disappointing loss to USC, the Tritons entered Saturday’s match against Pepperdine hoping to play like they did early on against the Trojans.

Unfortunately, the visiting Waves easily won 30-20, 30-24 and 30-15.

“”They were just better than us,”” Larsen said. “”They all jump-serve, they played great defense and they go to the ball well.””

Waller again led the Tritons with 17 kills and a .438 attack percentage. Shawn Oksenendler added six with a .417 percentage.

“”Jim played well both games,”” Larsen said. “”Shawn came off the bench to add a spark to our team.””

UCSD returns to action next weekend at seventh-ranked UC Irvine and second-ranked UCLA.