The UCSD men’s volleyball team clashed with a pair of titans over the weekend, taking some serious lumps from two of California’s top collegiate powers.
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The team went to battle with UC Irvine on Friday night at the Macky, where it gave a valiant effort but did not have the firepower to overcome the Anteater attack. The scoreboard reflected this, its bright lights glowing with 30-15, 30-26, 30-24 scores in Irvine’s advantage.
The airborne sweep started as soon as the first spike found hard wood, as the Anteaters made their presence felt by dominating the first set and then gliding through the next two to pick up the victory. The Tritons opened up neck and neck with UCI, until, with the score knotted at four, the Anteaters went on a 14-2 run and never looked back.
Senior Donald Chen had an impressive yet sporadic game for the Tritons, leading the team with 10 kills but committing eight errors. Teammate and fellow fourth-year player Zach Hite also did his part, knocking down nine kills and adding five digs. Jordan Hove was the dishmaster once again for UCSD, passing out 34 assists.
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Erick Helenihi had an awesome game for UCI, beating the Tritons down with a whopping 18 kills. Fellow Anteaters Jimmy Pelzel and Brenden Watamull also made their presence felt, with nine and eight kills apiece. Todd Steinert was the man behind the men, kicking down 38 assists in the victory.
By sweeping UCSD, the Anteaters improve their record to 6-9 for the season.
The next night posed an even greater challenge for our beloved Triton volleyball squad. It faced UCLA, a perennial powerhouse in the collegiate ranks, which was riding high on the horse with a 10-4 record for the season. The Tritons were not impressed, though, and opened the evening up with a rousing 30-26 first set victory in front of a 513-person crowd.
The set win got the party started at RIMAC Arena, as many began to smell an upset. But what many thought was upset aroma turned out to just be unwashed sweat socks, as the Bruins roared back to take the next three sets, 30-26, 30-22 and 30-18 to silence the raucous Triton fans and to seal up their 11th victory.
Once again, Chen was the main man on the UCSD attack, smashing a stellar 19 kills and logging six digs in the effort. Hite was also a force, with 12 kills and five digs, while fellow Tritons Griffin Cogorno, a solid 12 kills and team leading 10 digs, and Eric Perrine, seven digs also had highly respectable outings. Hove did his thing, compiling a massive 55 assists in the valiant effort.
For UCLA, it was Adam Naeve, Cameron Mount and Matt Komer doing most of the offensive damage. Naeve and Mount scorched 17 kills apiece, while Komer slammed 15 in the win. Rich Nelson passed them out as fast as his brethren could knock them down and finished with 61 assists.
The Bruins, with the victory over UCSD, improve their record to 11-4 for the season. With the loss, the Triton record falls to 0-16 against their competitive roster of opponents.
The Tritons try for that elusive first win when they face off against California Baptist University on Wednesday night and University of La Verne on Saturday, in their final regular season matchup. Both games have 7 p.m. start times and will be held at UCSD. Be on hand to see these exciting final Triton volleyball tilts.
