LA JOLLA, Calif.  ? The UC San Diego men's volleyball team began the 2009 campaign with a 30-17, 30-28, 30-24 sweep against Hope International on Friday night in RIMAC Arena.  The Tritons hit at a .376 clip and held the Royals to a .163 percentage.  Adrian Guthals and Will Ehrman both returned to the UCSD lineup after missing the 2008 season with injuries.  The duo finished with 13 kills apiece, while Frank Fritsch added 10 kills.  Phil Bannan recorded 44 assists.  Hope International was led by Aurel Stenzel with a match-high 14 kills.  “With the small amount of practices after winter break, I was pleased with our performance,” said head coach Kevin Ring.  “We came out aggressive and served well in the first set,” said Ring.

The Tritons served up four aces on the night, two by Bannan.  Joel Davidson added eight kills while Calvin Ross tallied seven kills for UCSD.  Bannan also had a team-high five blocks as the Tritons outblocked HIU 11.0 ? 6.0.

UCSD jumped out to a 20-5 lead in the first set and cruised to the win.  UCSD hit at a blistering .394 clip with 16 kills and three errors in the set.  Ehrman sent down the final kill as the Tritons took the set 30-17.

After scoring the first four points of the second set, including two Ross kills, the Royals climbed back and took the lead at 13-11.  Hope led 21-20 before UCSD scored three straight on HIU errors.  HIU climbed back within one point on two occasions, the last at 29-28 on a UCSD error.  An HIU service error gave the Tritons the second set win at 30-28.

The third set was close to begin with, with nine ties early on.  The last tie came at 10-10 and UCSD went on a 7-3 run, capped by a Guthals kill at 17-13.  UCSD never looked back as Ehrman sent down two more kills in a small run to push the Triton lead to 24-16.  Ehrman recorded UCSD's final two kills to give the Tritons the win at 30-24.

Guthals finished the night with 13 kills on .632 hitting while Ehrman had 13 kills on .308 hitting.

UCSD is back in action on Tuesday, January 13 when it travels to Riverside to take on Cal Baptist at 7:00 p.m.