LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego gave up 10 service aces in falling to top-ranked University of Hawai'i, 3-0, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) men's volleyball action at RIMAC Arena on Friday night. Set scores were 25-10, 25-19 and 25-14.
UCSD, idle since March 13 due to final exams last week, dropped to 2-20 overall and 0-16 in the MPSF. Hawai'i, atop the national poll for the first time since 2004, won its 11th straight in moving to 18-3 overall and 13-2 in league play. The Rainbow Warriors, who had not played since March 14, remained in first place in the conference standings, while clinching an MPSF Tournament bid.
UH scored the first two points of the evening and led the entire way in the opening stanza. Two attack errors and a bad serve by the Tritons, alongside a kill and an ace by Taylor Averill, led to an early 5-2 deficit. A pair of combination blocks, the first by Scott Hartley and Davis Holt and the latter from Averill and Jennings Franciskovic, put the Rainbow Warriors up by scores of 11-5 and 15-7, respectively.
UCSD took its first lead of the evening on an Ian Colbert kill to open the second set, but successive Hartley aces moved Hawai'i ahead, 3-1. UCSD evened the score a fourth and final time in the frame at 7-7 on a UH miscue, and later was still down just one at 12-11 following the first of two Tanner Syftestad aces, the only two for the Tritons on the night. The home side would get no closer, as the 'Bows tallied the next two points to force a timeout at 14-11, with a five-point run quickly netting a 19-12 cushion. UCSD did score four straight of its own to make it 21-18, through a UH hitting error, two Syftestad kills, and a stuff block by Alec Flowers and Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS), but four of the final five went the visitors' way.
Triple blocks by Colbert, Syftestad and Mathew Schnitzer, and then by Flowers, Schnitzer and Milosh Stojcic, gave UCSD leads of 2-1 and 6-3 early in the third. UH caught up at 8-8, with a four-point swing capped by a Brook Sedore ace giving it a 12-9 advantage. A 5-0 run put the set out of reach for the Tritons at 17-10. Kupono Fey's kill started it, with the sophomore serving the next four, including two aces. Fey only played in game three, compiling four kills on five swings.
Schnitzer produced a team-high six kills without an error on eight attempts for a .750 attack rate. He added three total blocks to share the match high. Fellow junior tri-captain Tanner Howard came up with five digs, as did Colbert, who also collected four kills. Flowers wound up with four kills and two blocks. Stojcic dished out 16 assists to go along with three digs, two blocks and a kill.
Hartley, a redshirt senior and Encinitas native out of La Costa Canyon High School, led all players with nine kills on .636 hitting (9-2-11). He was one of five Rainbow Warriors with two aces each. Fellow seniors Sedore and Averill had eight kills and two aces apiece, with the latter hitting at an identical .636 clip (8-1-11). Sedore became the 16th player in program history to reach 1,000 career kills. Franciskovic finished with 28 assists, two aces and a match-high seven digs.
UH out-hit the Tritons, .343 to -.015, with team blocks even at 5.0 apiece.
UCSD and Hawai'i face off a second time to conclude their season series on Saturday night, March 28, with first serve again set for 7 p.m. inside RIMAC Arena.
Triton Notes: Alec Flowers earned his fourth straight start ... UCSD dropped its fifth straight match to UH dating back to its only win ever in Honolulu, 3-0, back on Jan. 6, 2012 ... The Rainbow Warriors have now won four meetings in a row in La Jolla ... Friday's result officially eliminated UCSD from MPSF Tournament contention ... The contest marked the Tritons' first against the nation's No. 1-ranked team since another 3-0 home defeat, to UCLA, on Jan. 30, 2014.
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