LA JOLLA, Calif. - Alec Flowers put down a team-high 15 kills in his first collegiate start, and UC San Diego took the opening set, but ultimately fell in four to California Baptist University in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contest Friday night at RIMAC Arena. Game scores were 19-25, 25-18, 26-24 and 26-24.
UCSD dropped to 2-17 overall and 0-14 in the MPSF. CBU ended a nine-match losing skid in league play since its three-set defeat of the Tritons in the teams' first meeting of the season in Riverside back on Jan. 23, and improved to 6-13 overall and 2-12 in the conference. It was the Lancers' first win in La Jolla since another come-from-behind 3-1 success on April 1, 2008. UCSD had won five-set decisions at home in each of the last three years, with a 3-1 triumph at RIMAC in 2010.
Flowers, a true freshman who had entered the match with just five kills on the year in seven prior appearances, notched his 15 Friday on .303 hitting with 33 total swings in all (15-5-33). He added a career-high seven digs to share the team high, as well as his first collegiate ace and a season-best three total blocks.
UCSD as a team posted season bests of 12.5 total team blocks and eight service aces. The Tritons out-blocked just their third opponent in 2015, with CBU managing 8.0 team blocks.
The Tritons led the opening set from start to finish after tallying the first three points of the evening. The remaining three frames featured 23 tie scores and nine lead changes.
Tanner Syftestad joined Flowers in double-figure kills, with 11. The opposite hitter had led the Tritons in the category for the previous six matches. He added four total blocks and three service aces. Ian Colbert had six kills and seven digs, while Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) contributed four kills, three blocks and three aces. Mathew Schnitzer collected five kills on seven swings without an error (.714).
Zachary Melcher directed the Lancer offense to the tune of 54 assists. The visitors hit .355 (63-20-121) as a team. Roy Powell (21), Jonathan Tuttle (15) and Giovanni Llinas Rosa (11) all reached double digits in kills. Tuttle completed his double-double with a match-high 13 digs. Kevin Kustura got to 11 digs of his own.
UCSD rounds out a third and final three-match week for the 2015 season on Saturday night, March 7, at home against 12th-ranked non-conference foe Ball State. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at RIMAC Arena.
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