Fresh off one of their biggest wins of the year against No. 13 Cal State Long Beach, the UCSD men’s volleyball team looked to continue its newfound momentum as it traveled north to play matches against No. 2 UC Irvine and No. 5 UCLA. Unfortunately, the Tritons learned why both the Anteaters and the Bruins have been ranked among the top teams in the country all season, as they lost both matches in three games.
Freshman middle blocker Adrian Guthals and the Tritons fell to No. 2 UC Irvine on Feb. 28 and No. 5 UCLA on March 2 to drop their record to 5-12 overall.
When the Tritons traveled to UC Irvine on Feb. 28 to take on the Anteaters, they knew they would have to play a near-perfect match if they wanted to upset the No. 2 team in the nation.
The Tritons fought hard, but the Anteaters were able to dominate, taking the match 18-30, 16-30, 25-30. Freshman outside hitter Jason Spangler, who notched six kills in the match, led the Triton offense. Freshman middle blocker Frank Fritsch, junior middle blocker Stephen Shaw and sophomore opposite Andy Northness each chipped in with four kills.
The Tritons were able to keep game one close early on, pulling to within two points at 10-12. But the Anteaters took control as they went on a five-point run to stretch the lead to 17-10. The game was never close after that, as UC Irvine eventually closed the door on the Tritons, taking the first frame of the match 30-18.
The second game was similar, as the Tritons were able to take an early lead by a score of 10-9. However the Anteaters were again able to respond as they went on a massive run to take a 21-12 lead that proved to be insurmountable. UCSD failed to make another significant run, despite hitting .316 in the game, and lost the second stanza 30-16.
Despite the two-game deficit, the Tritons never lost focus and played their best volleyball of the night in game three. After a Northness kill pulled UCSD to 26-25, the team looked poised to take a game from one of the mightiest teams in the nation. Unfortunately, UC Irvine was able to get a side-out on the next point and then finished the match off, taking the third and final game 30-25.
After the match, senior setter Brooks Dierdorff praised the Anteaters’ efficient style of play.
“”[UC] Irvine is just a solid, all-around team and they don’t make a lot of mistakes,”” Dierdorff said. “”They have a quality player at every position and are the best team we have played this season.””
Head coach Kevin Ring pointed to the Tritons’ failure to pass well as one of the main reasons for their defeat.
“”We struggled to pass and that makes it really hard to get the offense going,”” Ring said. “”They are the most efficient team in the conference and made it really tough on us.””
The Tritons were certainly happy to get out of Irvine, but had little time to relax as they traveled to UCLA to take on the No. 5 Bruins on March 2. The Tritons played well in the match, but were still unable to come out on top as they fell in three games 27-30, 23-30, 25-30.
Northness posted an outstanding .800 hitting percentage and led the UCSD attack with eight kills. Spangler also tallied eight kills and Fritsch added seven. Dierdorff was able to run the offense smoothly and dished out 35 assists. Sophomore libero Eric Leserman, who pulled out eight digs, again led the defense.
The Tritons came out strong in game one and proved that they could play with the heavily favored Bruins. UCSD was able to tie the score up at 23-23, but UCLA responded by posting back-to-back points to again take the lead.
The Tritons fought back and came within one point of the Bruins at 26-25, but failed to do any further damage and lost the first game 30-27.
The Bruins capitalized on the momentum built in game one and jumped out to an imposing 11-3 lead in game two. UCSD was unable to cut into the sizable cushion and eventually fell 30-23.
The Tritons responded in the third game by posting a .303 hitting percentage, but the Bruins had plans of their own as they hit .421 and captured the final game of the night 30-25.
Ring was disappointed by the loss, but saw some things he liked in the match.
“”We had a lot of trouble slowing them down after we served,”” Ring said. “”But Brooks did a great job running the offense and we passed much better in the match.””
Dierdorff believes that the team must improve in other areas of the game if it hopes to take down top teams like the Anteaters and the Bruins.
“”Our defense was killing us in both matches,”” Dierdorff said. “”If we can improve that and our serving, we will be hard to beat.””
Ring believes that losses like these can be beneficial for the team, especially for the younger players.
“”This league is extremely tough and you see that when you play teams like UCI and UCLA,”” Ring said. “”I was pleased that we really improved in the UCLA match and if we can start to do the little things every night, there is no doubt that we can compete with the upper echelon teams in the league.””
With the pair of losses, the Tritons dropped their overall record to 5-12 and their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record to 2-10. UCSD will look to regroup as it takes on Lewis University at RIMAC Arena on March 7.
