LA JOLLA, Calif. - It was a battle for three sets, but the UC San Diego men's volleyball team ultimately dropped a 3-1 decision against 13th-ranked CSUN Friday night at RIMAC Arena.
Scores of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contest went 23-25, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-15. The Tritons fell to 2-22 overall and 0-18 in the league, while the Matadors upped their marks to 10-15 and 7-12.
UCSD fell in four after taking the opening game for the second match in a row, having suffered the same fate against top-ranked Hawai'i last Saturday, March 28.
Tanner Syftestad put down a match-high 16 kills to equal his best effort of the season, adding four total blocks to lead all Tritons, as well as six digs. Freshman setter Milosh Stojcic handed out 35 assists to come just two shy of his high for 2015, while matching his season best of seven digs. The Redondo Beach native even contributed four kills on four attempts. Junior libero Tanner Howard paced UCSD in that category with nine digs. Ian Colbert finished with six kills, seven digs and two solo blocks, with Alec Flowers good for six kills, six digs and one solo stuff.
Four Matadors reached double-figure kill totals in Jakub Ciesla (11), Greg Faulkner (11), Bradley Sakaida (11) and Kyle Stevenson (10). Sakaida posted the lone double-double with a match-high 11 digs, adding five total blocks, three assists and a pair of aces. Faulkner hit a more-than-efficient .733 with zero errors on 15 total swings, and led all players with eight total blocks, all of the assist variety. Senior setter Travis Magorien wound up with 34 assists, five digs and three kills.
A tight first set saw nine tie scores, with UCSD pulling out the win despite not putting together greater than a two-point stretch throughout the frame. CSUN held an 8-6 advantage following a 3-0 run, the longest of the set. Neither team was up by more than two points until UCSD finally grabbed a 23-20 lead late and forced the Matadors' second timeout. After relinquishing three of the next four points, the Tritons closed it out on a Syftestad kill.
CSUN tallied four of the first six points of game two, with a later 5-1 sequence forcing a UCSD timeout, down 14-10. Though the Tritons closed back to within one at 17-16 on another Syftestad kill, they were unable to catch up.
The third set was extremely close, with an incredible 16 tie scores and 10 lead changes. On top by just one at 23-22 late, the Matadors capped the frame with a Faulkner kill and Triton attack error.
CSUN then blitzed the home side in the fourth, quickly creating a 10-1 bulge and cruising from there.
UCSD hosts No. 10 Long Beach State (13-12, 9-11 MPSF) Saturday at 7 p.m. in its final home match of the season. The 49ers were defeated by fifth-ranked UC Irvine, 3-1, Friday.
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