LA JOLLA, Calif.  ?  The 10th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team gave No. 3 Cal State Northridge all it could handle before falling to the Matadors by a 30-26, 29-31, 30-22, 38-36 score on Friday night in RIMAC Arena.  The Tritons got 26 kills from Frank Fritsch and 22 kills from Jason Spangler and nearly forced a fifth set as there were 21 ties and 10 lead changes in the fourth set.  CSUN would put the match away on a solo block.  With the loss, UCSD drops to 7-13, 11-14 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Matadors improve to 22-5, 15-5 MPSF.

The Tritons were only outhit .276-.261 and outblocked by a slim margin of 19.5-16.0.  Phil Bannan had 61 assists, seven digs and five blocks.  Calvin Ross had a team high nine blocks while Gerald Houseman had eight kills.

CSUN was paced by Eric Vance with 22 kills while four other Matadors had at least 10 kills.

After taking the first set, CSUN led 10-8 in set two.  UCSD went on an 11-4 run to open up a 19-14 advantage.  With the scored tied at 28-28, CSUN took the lead on a kill by Kevin McKniff.  Spangler followed with a kill and a CSUN error gave the Tritons set point.  A CSUN attack error gave the Tritons the second set with at 31-29.

CSUN controlled the third set early on before the Tritons rallied to come back within 20-18.  CSUN quickly put away the Tritons, closing the set on a 10-4 run, winning 30-22.

The fourth set was close throughout with 21 ties and 10 lead changes.  Both teams would serve for the set win, only to be turned back multiple times.  The final tie came at 36-36 after a Fritsch kill.  After a UCSD service error, CSUN's Theo Edwards recorded the solo block to end the match 38-36.

UCSD is back in action on Saturday night when it hosts UCSB at 7:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.