LA JOLLA, Calif. - Facing a University of Hawai'i squad that was ranked No. 1 and on an 11-match win streak, the UC San Diego men's volleyball team came out with considerable fire and took the opening set, but ultimately saw its upset bid fall short in four games Saturday night at RIMAC Arena. Set scores were 23-25, 25-19, 25-10 and 25-18.
UCSD moved to 2-21 overall and 0-17 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Hawai'i maintained its hold on first place at 19-3 overall and 14-2 in league play with its 12th victory in a row. The 'Bows had taken Friday night's initial meeting between the sides for 2015, in straight sets.
Tanner Syftestad and Alec Flowers had 12 and 10 kills, respectively, for the Tritons, who committed just two hitting errors while attacking at a .259 clip (9-2-27) for the first-set triumph. Junior libero Tanner Howard got to 10 digs, with Flowers collecting nine and Syftestad six. Milosh Stojcic handed out 30 assists and added a season-high three blocks. Shayne Beamer served a career-best two aces while putting down three kills on five swings without an error (.600). Ian Colbert chipped in with six kills, eight digs, two blocks and two assists.
Senior middle blocker Taylor Averill led all players with 14 kills for UH, hitting .500 (14-2-24) and completing a double-double with a match-high 13 total blocks, all of the assisted variety. He added three digs and an ace. Sinisa Zarkovic had a match-best 13 digs to go along with seven kills, three blocks and two assists. Setter Jennings Franciskovic managed 30 assists, four kills, four digs and three blocks over the first three games before giving way to Alex Jones (14 assists) for the fourth.
In the opening frame, a nice two-man game between Averill and Franciskovic netted the Rainbow Warriors a point to knot the score at 8-8. That came in the middle of a 6-0 run that gave the visitors a 12-8 advantage. Three consecutive UH errors, though, put UCSD back on top at 16-15 and forced a timeout by the 'Bows. A Flowers kill from Colbert's set made it 23-20 in favor of the Tritons, with Mathew Schnitzer then punctuating a lengthy rally that featured a pair of tough Flowers digs, with a kill following UH's second timeout. Though Hawai'i tallied the next three, Schnitzer and Stojcic finally shut the door on UCSD's fourth set point, stuffing Zarkovic.
Hawai'i began the second with a pair of combo blocks, the first of which was a triple stuff by Averill, Kupono Fey and Ryan Leung. Though Beamer's second ace gave the Tritons a short-lived 5-4 edge, a 4-0 Hawai'i run around a UCSD timeout made it 12-8 in favor of the Rainbow Warriors. Ryan Schickling slammed his only kill of the contest off the block from another Colbert assist for a 15-12 deficit, but UCSD would get no closer than three the rest of the way.
The third frame was all UH, as it hit .846 without an attack error (11-0-13) and sided out at 90 percent (10-11). The 'Bows trotted out to leads of 8-2 after five straight points, and 15-6 later on a triple block again by Averill, Fey and Leung.
UCSD's first triple block of the night pulled it within a point at 4-3 early in the third, with Colbert, Schnitzer and Stojcic teaming up. Flowers concluded a long rally with a kill at 9-7 UH, and Schnitzer then hammered the overpass in the middle of a 3-0 Triton run that leveled matters at 11-11. A final Hawai'i triple stuff, this one by Averill, Jones and Zarkovic, highlighted a 4-0 stretch that gave the 'Bows a 15-11 lead. A tremendous crosscourt Stojcic set was put down for a kill by Flowers as UCSD trailed 17-15. Again, the Tritons could not get any closer. Successive blocks by Averill and Fey together, and then solo by Jones, put them at the brink, down 23-17.
UCSD awaits one final home weekend for its 2015 campaign, as it hosts No. 14 CSUN on Friday, April 3, and No. 10 Long Beach State on Saturday, April 4, each at 7 p.m. inside RIMAC Arena.
Triton Notes: Alec Flowers earned his fifth straight start and reached double figures in kills for the second time this year ... Tanner Syftestad produced a double-digit kill total for his team-best 11th time in 2015 ... Tanner Howard was in double-figure digs for the third time this season and sixth for his career ... Milosh Stojcic achieved the 30-assist plateau for the second time ... UCSD dropped its sixth successive match to UH dating back to its only win ever in Honolulu, 3-0, back on Jan. 6, 2012 ... The Rainbow Warriors have won five meetings in a row in La Jolla ... UCSD took a set against the nation's top-ranked team for the first time since another 3-1 home loss to then-No. 1 BYU on Jan. 11, 2008, with 10 sweeps of 3-0 since.
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