IRVINE, Calif. - Backed by 15 kills and seven digs from Joel Davidson and a solid all-around performance by Phil Bannan, the UC San Diego men's volleyball team opened its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season Wednesday with a 3-1 upset win over No. 7 UC Irvine at the Bren Center. The Tritons came back from a set down to win three straight, including a grueling 30-28 victory in the fourth set.
Scores of the match went 16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 30-28 in favor of UCSD, which evened its season record at 2-2. UC Irvine dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the league. It was the first time UCSD had won its opening league match since defeating USC 3-1 in Los Angeles in 2004.
The fourth and deciding set proved to be the most exciting for the 880 fans in attendance.
Davidson, a senior outside hitter, and Bannan, a senior setter took charge down the stretch and powered the Tritons to the extra-points win. Down by one at 24-23, Davidson ripped a pair of kills off sets from Bannan to force Irvine to take a timeout at 25-24 in favor of the Tritons. Two straight UCI kills negated UCSD's first match point and put the 'Eaters up 26-25. Davidson was again responsible for two more consecutive points, one on a kill and the other on a service ace, giving the Tritons match point again at 27-26. The teams traded points with a UCSD attack error and a UC Irvine service error, getting the score to 28-27, Tritons. Another UCSD hitting error allowed the Anteaters to tie the set 28-28, but then Bannan took over. First, he gave the Tritons a 29-28 advantage with a kill off a set from freshman Mike Brunsting. He then finished it with style, serving up an ace to give the set and match to UCSD. Interestingly enough, Bannan had put the Tritons up 2-0 at the beginning of the set with two aces.
"It's critical to remain a tough serving team in pressure situations," said head coach Kevin Ring.
Davidson had three kills, an ace, three digs and a block in the final set. Bannan, who totaled 41 assists for the match, had six in the fourth set to go along with two kills, three aces, a dig and a block. Libero Chase Frishman dug four balls in the set and led all players with a total of 10.
"Phil was the driving force in the match tonight," said head coach Kevin Ring. "He set a great match but also came up big at the net as a blocker and at the service line. He provided an offensive spark at a few key moments as he got to hit on the right side."
Sophomore outside hitter Carl Eberts had 15 kills to set a new career high and equal Davidson for the match high.
"Joel and Carl both had 15 kills, but it was Joel's passing and defense - the best I've seen from him in those areas," said Ring.
UCSD floored nine aces to UCI's three, five of those coming from Bannan, a new career best. The Tritons hit just .189 (47-27-106), much of that attributed to the Anteaters having their block working. Irvine finished with 15 blocks to UCSD's eight.
Carson Clark led UCI with 14 kills, two aces, five digs and five blocks.
The first set was all Anteaters as they hit .391 to the Tritons' -.080. However, UCSD quickly turned that around to swing at .500 and never trail in the second frame. It was the second straight match that the Tritons pulled a major offensive turnaround between two sets. Last Saturday in a win over Cal Baptist, they went from .000 in the first set to .636 in the second.
It was back-and-forth in the third set as there were 10 tie scores, but just three lead changes. Only the fourth set had higher totals with 14 ties and six lead changes.
The Anteaters had won the past five match-ups between the two squads, with the Tritons' last win coming on Mar. 29, 2008 at RIMAC Arena. UCSD swept the series that year, also defeating UCI 3-1 in Irvine.
UCSD, which has been receiving votes in the AVCA national poll for the past two weeks, opens its home season on Friday, Jan. 14 (7 p.m.) as No. 5 UC Santa Barbara visits RIMAC Arena. The Gauchos are 2-1 after finishing second in their own Collegiate Invitational last week. Santa Barbara fell to BYU in the championship match.
Tickets for home matches are available at the door. As always, UCSD students are admitted free with a valid school ID. For more ticket information, please click here.
The team will host its alumni game this Saturday, Jan. 15 at 2 p.m.
– ucsdtritons.com –
