IRVINE, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's volleyball team made the short trip north and fell to non-conference opponent Concordia University Irvine, 3-1, in the 2015 season opener for both sides Wednesday night at the CU Arena. Set scores were 25-17, 25-14, 24-26, 25-19.
The match marked the first-ever meeting in men's volleyball between UCSD (0-1) and Concordia (1-0), as the Eagles' program is in just its third year in existence.
After UCSD scored the first two points of the match on an opening-serve error by CUI and a kill by Tanner Syftestad, the home team tallied the next six in succession to force the evening's first timeout by Triton head coach Kevin Ring. During the break, however, five points of that rally were erased through a retroactive rotation error on the Eagles, leaving UCSD with a peculiar 3-1 edge.
Concordia would grab its first lead at 5-4 on the first of back-to-back Timothy Moses aces. A later run of five of six points broke a 9-9 deadlock and made it 14-10 in favor of the Eagles. CUI extended its lead to seven points at 22-15 before settling for the 25-17 win. Nine of UCSD's 17 points, including five of the first seven, came from Eagle service errors, with 12 Tritons seeing action.
The hosts went up 17-10 in the second on a Triton attack that went long, and cruised to a 25-14 victory. Through the first two sets, the Eagles held a decided advantage at the net with 5.0 team blocks to zero by UCSD.
That statistic changed quickly in the third, as on back-to-back Triton points, Kirill Rudenko and Shayne Beamer roofed Timothy Chapel for a 3-1 lead. UCSD built its advantage up to 9-5, with a 13-9 bulge moments later after two Eagle hitting errors forcing Concordia into its very first timeout of the match.
The Tritons saw a six-point cushion whittled down to 22-19. After a timeout, the lead was cut further to just one at 23-22 on a stuff block by Devin Ross and Brett Anema. A kill down the middle by Rudenko on the heels of UCSD's final timeout pushed it to set point. Though successive combo blocks knotted the score at 24-24, the Tritons took the frame on a Mathew Schnitzer kill and a Calvin Manchenko ace, UCSD's only one of the contest. The Tritons produced 6.0 team blocks in the set.
In the fourth, a run of five straight points, with three Ross kills, turned a 10-7 Triton advantage into a 12-10 CUI edge as the visitors called for time. Syftestad finally spiked it down the middle to stop the bleeding at 13-11. Concordia continued to gather breathing room, going up 16-11. Three straight points brought UCSD back to within two at 18-16, but CUI answered with four in a row of its own, and won it, 25-19. The set had featured five tie scores before the Eagles wrestled control.
Eight Tritons made their collegiate debuts. Two redshirt freshmen earned starts in their first appearances in José Carlos Martinez at setter and Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) at a middle blocker spot. Freshmen Tyler Bird and Syftestad began the contest at libero and opposite hitter, respectively. True freshmen Cole Kendrick, Luke La Mont, Luke McDonald and Ryan Schickling came off the bench, all initially in the first set.
Syftestad was the lone Triton to reach double figures in kills or digs, compiling 12 and 10 for his first double-double. The Carmichael native played club volleyball at Chico State in his first year out of high school in 2013-14, before transferring.
Beamer started the second set at middle and put down two kills on three swings. He finished the match with five. Kendrick wound up with 20 assists while Martinez had 10. Bird collected eight digs. Ring played all 14 Tritons in uniform.
“Something we did really well was never quit,” remarked Ring, who began his 10th season in charge at his alma mater. “We were pretty relentless, and that's going to be a key for us going forward. That's got to be there night in, night out.
“We've got to get comfortable with the speed and caliber of the type of teams we're going to be playing. That's something that needs to be created in the practice gym, learning to get ourselves to a level where we'll be competitive.”
UCSD was out-hit, .297-.088, and out-blocked, 15.0-6.0.
Four Eagles hit double digits in kills in Chapel (14), Moses (14), Ross (11) and Anema (10). Moses added a match-high 12 digs and Joseph Pillon had 29 assists.
The Tritons continue a season-long four-match road stretch to start the 2015 campaign in Phoenix, Ariz., this Saturday afternoon, Jan. 10, facing Grand Canyon. First serve at Antelope Gymnasium is set for 1 p.m. PT (2 p.m. MT). The 'Lopes were beaten in five sets by No. 7 USC at home in their opener, also on Wednesday night.
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