LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The 10th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team completed conference action with a 28-30, 30-26, 31-29, 30-28 loss to No. 8 Long Beach State on Friday night in RIMAC Arena. After splitting the first two sets, LBSU edged the Tritons by two points in both the third and fourth sets to pull out the win. Frank Fritsch led the Tritons with 20 kills on the night. With the loss, UCSD drops to 12-15, 8-14 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while Long Beach State improves to 14-13, 11-11 MPSF. The Tritons finish the year in ninth-place in the MPSF, their highest finish ever, just missing the MPSF playoffs.
In addition to Fritsch's 20 kills, Gerald Houseman sent down 13 kills while Jason Spangler added 12 kills. Calvin Ross had nine kills and seven blocks while Phil Bannan added 54 assists, 10 digs and seven blocks.
LBSU was led by Dean Bittner with 21 kills and Josh Riley with 17 kills on .400 hitting.
The first set featured 13 ties and six lead changes. LBSU climbed out to a 20-15 lead before the Tritons rallied to tie the set at 24-24 after an Aaron Hedland service ace. With the scored tied at 27-27, Houseman sent down a kill, followed by a Ross kill for set point. After a UCSD attack error, Fritsch put the set away 30-28 UCSD.
In the second set, LBSU outhit the Tritons .323 - .167 as LBSU scored four of the last five points of the set to close out the 30-26 win.
There were 15 ties in the third set, along with seven lead changes. With UCSD down 28-27, Houseman sent down back-to-back kills to give the Tritons a shot at the set, 29-28. LBSU got a kill from Bittner and a UCSD error to lead 30-29. The Tritons were then on the wrong end of a service ace by LBSU which went off the net and found the UCSD side for the LBSU win at 31-29.
The fourth set was close throughout, with 15 total ties and eight lead changes. The final tie came at 28-28 before a LBSU kill and UCSD error ended the match at 30-28 LBSU.
As part of UCSD men's volleyball senior weekend, seniors Eric Leserman, Gerald Houseman and Aaron Hedland were honored in a brief ceremony before first serve.
UCSD completes the 2009 season on Saturday with a non-conference match against Grand Canyon. First serve is set for 5:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.
