LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 14th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team sent its seniors out with an upset win in a 28-30, 30-27, 19-30, 30-27, 15-12 over No. 3 Pepperdine on Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. The senior trio of
Frank Fritsch (25 kills),
Jason Spangler (14 kills) and
Adrian Guthals (14 kills) combined for 53 of UCSD's 78 kills against the Waves. Fritsch tallied five of his kills on .500 hitting in the decisive fifth set win. It was UCSD's second win over the Waves this season, and second in 38 all-time matches. UCSD's season comes to a close at 11-19, 6-16 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while Pepperdine finishes as the No. 5 seed in the MPSF playoffs with a record of 16-9, 14-8 MPSF.
While the Tritons fell short of reaching the MPSF playoffs, the Tritons can have the satisfaction of sweeping Pacific, UCLA and Pepperdine this season, with the latter two being MPSF playoff qualifiers.
Fritsch finished the night with a team-high 25 kills on .455 hitting. Fritsch finishes his career as the No. 2 ranked student-athlete at UCSD in kills with 1,403 in his career. Jason Spangler had 14 kills in the match, finishing his career with 1,491 kills, the all-time career kills leader at UCSD.
Guthals finished with 14 kills on .500 hitting, claiming UCSD's top spot in all-time attack percentage.
Joel Davidson added nine kills while Cyrus Kiani added eight kills and a team-high seven blocks.
Erik Sierks got the start at setter with 44 assists while Phil Bannan added 29 assists.
The first set was the closest of the night with the score tied 19 times. The Tritons led 20-19 after a Guthals block. The final tie would come at 26-26 after a Guthals kill. Pepperdine scored the next two points to lead 28-27. UCSD pulled within 29-28, but Pepperdine's Maurice Torres sent down the kill to claim the win for Pepperdine at 30-28.
UCSD claimed the second set by hitting at a .333 clip. UCSD trailed 11-6 but went on an 8-3 run to tie the set at 14-14. UCSD led 20-17 after scoring three straight points and never let Pepperdine back within one point. Fritsch sent down the final kill for the 30-27 win.
Pepperdine hit at a .591 clip in the third set and cruised to the 30-19 win and looked to claim the win in the fourth set.
In the fourth set, UCSD and Pepperdine were knotted up at 21-21 before UCSD scored three straight points as the Waves committed two errors. Fritsch sent down UCSD's final two kills as the Tritons forced a decisive fifth set with the 30-27 win.
In the fifth set, it was often the Fritsch show as the senior sent down five kills in the set and UCSD hit at a .526 clip. UCSD led 8-5 after a Guthals kill and the teams changed sides. Pepperdine pulled within two points on two occasions, including 11-9. Kiani and Guthals followed with kills to push UCSD ahead 13-9. After Pepperdine pulled within 13-11, Fritsch sent down the kill to give UCSD match point at 14-11.
Unlike the previous night with a 14-11 lead against USC, this time the Tritons did not waste much time as Davidson sent down the winner at 15-12.
