SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The 13th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team took the first two sets and held on for the 30-22, 30-27, 29-31, 26-30, 15-11 win over No. 14 UC Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Invitational at Robertson Gymnasium.
Frank Fritsch led the Tritons with 27 kills on .347 hitting.
Will Ehrman added 17 kills on .519 hitting and
Cyrus Kiani added 14 kills without an error on .667 hitting. The win gives UCSD its first win of the season and a seventh-place finish at the tournament, the premier preseason tournament in the nation. The Tritons (1-2) suffered losses to No. 8 UCLA and No. 2 UC Irvine on Thursday.
Erik Sierks saw action at setter for the Tritons and delivered 68 assists as UCSD hit at a .368 average as a team. Chase Frishman added a team-high 15 digs and Calvin Ross had nine kills to go along with his team-high six blocks. Joel Davidson added nine kills and five digs off the UCSD bench.
The win was UCSD's third straight win over the Gauchos, with each of the three wins coming in five sets.
With 53 kills in the Santa Barbara tournament, Fritsch has surpassed 1,000 kills in his Triton career. The senior is now up to 1,044 kills, good for fourth all-time at UCSD. Teammate Jason Spangler had 28 kills in three matches, bringing his career total to 1,171, a mark which ranks third all-time at UCSD.
In the first set the Tritons took a 7-3 lead on an ace by Ehrman. The Gauchos came back to take the lead at 13-10, using a 10-3 run of their own. The Tritons would go on to trail by as many as five points as late as 20-15, before beginning to chip away. UCSD would use a late 10-0 run, capped by a kill from Kiani to take a 26-20 advantage and control of the set. Spangler sent down the final kill at 30-22.
The second set was close throughout as the teams would tie at 21-21. After consecutive kills put the Tritons up by two, UCSB came back within 25-24, before a UCSB error and Ehrman kill put UCSD up 27-24. UCSB would not get closer than two points the rest of the way as Fritsch ended the set with a kill at 30-27.
The third set began much like the first as an Ehrman ace gave UCSD an early 7-3 edge. UCSB took control however, opening up a 20-15 lead. The Tritons rallied to get back into the set as a block by Ross and Sierks tied it at 25-25. With UCSD down 28-26, back-to-back kills by Fritsch tied the set at 28-28. The Gauchos would prevail on a Triton service error and kill to win 31-29.
With the fourth set knotted at 9-9, UCSD went on a 5-1 run helped by two UCSB errors to take a 14-10 lead. After the Gauchos cut the lead down to 17-16, Davidson sent down two kills in a small run to put the Tritons up 20-17. After two Tritons errors and a Gacuho ace, UCSB had retied the set at 22-22. Out of the UCSD timeout, UCSB scored the next two points to go up 24-22. UCSD would cut the deficit down to one point on several occasions but could not tie or regain the lead as UCSB won 30-26.
The Tritons scored the first four points of the fifth set as Kiani and Fritsch had kills while the Tritons also put up two blocks. UCSD went on to lead 8-5 on an Ehrman kill as the teams changed sides. After the Gauchos came within two points, UCSD took an 11-7 lead after kills by Kiani and Sierks. The Tritons would go on to win the fifth set 15-11, the last point coming on a UCSB service error.
UCSD is back in action on Wednesday, January 13 when it travels to Northridge to take on Cal State Northridge in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener for both schools. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Matadome.
