MEN’S VOLLEYBALL — The UCSD men’s volleyball team had its
chances against top-ranked
but couldn’t capitalize in key moments in its two contests against the No. 1
team in the country. The Tritons went down 30-21, 30-28, 27-30, 31-29 on Jan.
11 and were then swept 30-27, 30-22, 30-28 on Jan. 12.
Despite having late-game leads on both nights, UCSD was
unable to close out the Cougars. Head coach Kevin Ring felt that the matches
against BYU weren’t about No. 1 versus UCSD or Division I versus Division II.
“In this league you have to give yourself opportunities and
we were able to do that,” he said. “Over the seven games we played against
them, we had our chances in all but two of them. They’re No. 1 and they showed
that coming up with big blocks to stop our runs.”
BYU dominated the first game on Jan. 11. The Cougars roared
out to a 23-20 lead and then scored 7-of-8 to take game one.
UCSD settled in the second game, taking a 15-12 advantage
after senior outside hitter Russ Hardy’s ace. The lead survived until the
Cougars tied the game 26-26 on two Triton errors. BYU took a one-point lead and
held on for the 30-28 win going into the break.
Ring discussed minimizing the service errors and making
plays in all aspects of the game.
“There’s no magic or no secret formula,” Ring said. “We
played well throughout the first game except for the end stretch and we played
well throughout the second game. We needed to stay aggressive but continue to
play in all phases.”
The words of encouragement didn’t seem to work in the early
stages of game three as UCSD fell behind 20-15. Just when it seemed the Cougars
had sealed the victory, UCSD put together a rally to tie the game at 22. Behind
the crowd of 612 at RIMAC, the Tritons battled for a 28-26 lead and sophomore
outside hitter Jason Spangler closed the game with a kill and a solo block to
give UCSD a glimmer of hope in knocking off the nation’s No. 1 team.
“The crowd helped us tremendously,” he said. “They were into
it and it seemed that they wanted us to win as badly as we did. We kind of
played to the philosophy that you can give a team a game but not the next one.”
The momentum didn’t last, as BYU jumped out to a 19-12 lead
early in game four, but the Tritons wouldn’t let their fans go home
disappointed. Appearing to have lost all intensity after the game-three win,
UCSD went on a 12-5 run to tie the game 24-24 and took the lead on a Spangler
kill 26-25.
Hardy and sophomore middle blocker Gerald Houseman put up a
double block to give the Tritons a 29-28 lead and game point. But the height
and talent of the Cougars took over as they tallied two blocks and a kill to
close out the game and the match.
Ring pointed to UCSD’s youth and inexperience as culprits
for the loss.
“We definitely knew that we could play with them,” he said.
“We’re a young team and are still learning how to play with one another. We
have to keep our focus and be able to make the routine plays. The big blocks
and aces are going to happen but we have to worry more about what we control.”
The rematch bore little resemblance to the intensity and
quality of the previous night. Remnants of the disappointing loss seemed to
linger over the Tritons in game one. Despite being behind by only two, the
Tritons just didn’t have the same continuity and flow they had in the first
meeting.
BYU captured game one on back-to-back kills and UCSD
couldn’t recover in the second game. The Cougars played almost flawlessly and
the curse of missed serves returned as BYU pounded the Tritons for an easy win.
UCSD used an 8-2 run in game three to take a 20-17 lead. The
advantage stuck until 23-20 when BYU recorded back-to-back blocks to tie the
game at 23. The two teams traded points and exchanged leads, but it would be
BYU that stole the match on a kill and a block.
BYU out-blocked UCSD 39-20, which Ring attributed to
experience.
“Blocking takes the longest to develop after getting out of
high school,” he said. “We’re young but the height they had on the wings
doesn’t make a huge difference. They’re a veteran team and that was the biggest
difference.”
Leserman was pleased with UCSD’s performance and echoed
Ring’s sentiments that the team could win with some improvement at the service
line.
“We contended with the No. 1 team in the nation and that was
big,” he said. “We need to improve our serving though. A missed serve is losing
out on an opportunity to win points for your team.”
