LA JOLLA, Calif. - Second-ranked UCLA was too much for UC San Diego to handle in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) men's volleyball action at RIMAC Arena on Saturday night. Set scores were 25-18, 25-17 and 25-14.
With the loss, UCSD falls to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the MPSF. UCLA remains unbeaten at 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. It was a fifth straight road match for the Bruins.
Junior outside hitter Ian Colbert led the Tritons for the second night in a row, finishing with a team-high nine kills and a share of the match high of eight digs. He committed just one error in 22 swings, for a .364 attack rate. Co-captain and libero Tanner Howard had eight digs of his own. Fellow senior Kirill Rudenko added eight kills on .412 hitting (8-1-17). Redshirt freshman middle blocker Drew Sloane got his hands to the first two blocks of his career. Sophomore Milosh Stojcic and freshman Ryan Blaich split setting duties, collecting 11 and eight assists, respectively.
UCLA hit .407 with 49 kills compared to UCSD's .169 with 21, and served 11 aces while the Tritons managed none. Freshman Micah Ma'a had six of them.
JT Hatch was the lone player in the match in double-figure kills, with 12. Six Bruins had at least six kills to form a balanced offense, with all but Hatch hitting at a minimum clip of .455. Reigning national and conference Player of the Week, junior middle Mitch Stahl, wound up with six kills and a match-best five total blocks.
Saturday's opening set was the closest, with seven tie scores and three lead changes. Early on, Hatch went up to put away the overpass, only to find Stojcic across the net from him for the huge solo stuff and a 7-7 deadlock. Stahl and Hagen Smith then combined on back-to-back blocks of Tanner Syftestad to give UCLA the edge at 10-8 after the home side was ahead for the final time at 8-7 just moments before.
The Bruins got out to leads of 6-3 and 17-8 in the second frame. Blaich and Sloane teamed up for a big stuff block late, but it was already a 22-16 deficit at that point.
Ma'a served three successive aces and UCLA was off and running in the last set. The visitors extended to 5-0 on the night's lone triple block by Hatch, Smith and Stahl. A final Triton highlight was Sloane rising to deny Eric Sprague by himself for 10-5.
Having concluded a season-long four-match homestand to begin the new campaign, UCSD now hits the road for the first time in 2016, facing a busy three-match week. The Tritons are at No. 12 Pepperdine on Wednesday, Jan. 20, No. 11 Stanford on Friday, Jan. 22, and non-conference foe Holy Names on Saturday, Jan. 23.
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