SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The 13th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team went up against a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponents at the 46th-annual Santa Barbara Invitational on Thursday on the UCSB campus. The Tritons began the day by taking a 2-1 lead against No. 8 UCLA, but fell to the Bruins 30-24, 24-30, 26-30, 31-29, 15-8 in UCSD's first match of the day. In the second match of the day, UCSD fell to No. 2 UC Irvine 30-28, 22-30, 30-26, 30-21. The Tritons will face tournament host No. 14 UC Santa Barbara at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. BYU and Cal State Northridge will meet in the championship game of the tournament.
In the match against UCLA, Will Ehrman led the way with 17 kills and added five digs. Frank Fritsch added 15 kills while Cyrus Kiani had 11 kills. Andrew Kaban had 10 digs and Adrian Guthals had four blocks. Phil Bannan registered 49 assists.
Against UC Irvine, Spangler led the way with 16 kills while Kiani added 12 kills. Fritsch added 11 kills and three aces, while Ehrman added 10 kills.
