OAKLAND, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's volleyball team learned from some early-season mistakes in terms of end-of-set play and produced a satisfying victory over non-conference opponent Holy Names University, 3-0, Saturday night at Tobin Gymnasium. Set scores were 25-22, 25-23 and 25-21.
The Tritons had suffered a couple of deflating set defeats in their first two losses of the year in particular. Saturday night, they were able to swing those late points the other way, to snap losing streaks of five matches and 15 sets.
In concluding a three-match road week and stretch of five matches in nine days, UCSD improved to 2-5 overall. Holy Names remained winless at 0-6. It was just the second meeting between the programs, with the Tritons having swept the Hawks at home last Feb. 25 as well. They will face off again in La Jolla on Feb. 20.
The result also meant that UCSD has already equaled its win total from a difficult 2-26 campaign in 2015.
"It was nice to win in three sets tonight," said UCSD head coach Kevin Ring. "It was a challenging match, but I thought we played really well late in each set. We came up with some big plays, whether it was a stuff block, a good tough serve, we dug some balls, and got some good quality transition swings. We were in these close, tight games, and we were able to pull them out. That is something that we certainly have tried to put an emphasis on, and felt good about that performance."
Ian Colbert and Alec Flowers finished with 13 and 11 kills, respectively, to lead the way for their side, both hitting at better than a .500 mark, with Colbert at .571 (13-1-21) and Flowers at .550 (11-0-20) without a single error. Colbert's kill total was another new career high after he put down 12 earlier in the year. It was also in fact a first collegiate double-double for the Belmont product, as he added a career-best 10 digs. Sophomore setter Milosh Stojcic completed his own double-double with 31 assists to go along with his career-high 10 digs. Senior libero and co-captain Tanner Howard was a third Triton in double-figure digs, with 11.
"Two players who really helped pace our offense were Ian Colbert and Alec Flowers," added Ring. "Both put up big numbers, hitting over .500. We needed every one of their kills, and their hitting efficiency was big for us down the stretch."
The Tritons trailed by the identical score of 15-12 midway through each of the first two frames, but levelled matters at 15-15 and 17-17, respectively, before managing to take both.
In the first, UCSD actually held a two-point edge at 12-10 prior to the Hawks going on a 5-0 spurt to take their 15-12 lead. The Tritons produced the next three points to pull even once more. Tied a final time at 19-19, four straight points by the visitors around both HNU timeouts, on two Tanner Syftestad kills and a kill and solo block by fellow redshirt sophomore Calvin Manchenko, effectively gave UCSD the set.
The second frame actually saw UCSD down 15-9 after a three-point HNU run. It was still knotted late at 22-22 and then 23-23, before the Tritons tallied the final two points on kills by Flowers and Manchenko.
In another close stanza featuring 12 tie scores and 10 lead changes, HNU went up 16-15 as UCSD called a timeout. The Tritons came out of it with the next two points, the latter on a kill by senior outside hitter Kirill Rudenko, for 17-16. A Colbert kill and attack error by the Hawks finally gave UCSD a slightly more comfortable two-point cushion at 21-19, with the home side calling for time moments later down 22-19. HNU grabbed the next two, and forced the Tritons into their final timeout at 22-21. For a third time on the night, UCSD was able to make the final plays it needed from there to close out the sweep, with kills by Colbert and redshirt freshman Luke McDonald, preceding an attack error on match point to end the contest.
Flowers and fellow sophomore Luke La Mont earned their first starts of the season, with Flowers back at a middle blocker spot after being utilized as an outside hitter late in his freshman campaign. He had a match-high nine kills through two sets.
Junior middle Shayne Beamer equaled his career best with five total blocks, alongside five kills. Stojcic contributed three block assists.
Kyle Cazares paced the Hawks with his 11 kills. Trevor Robison and Kaili Schumacher-Lagundino got to 11 digs apiece.
UCSD returns home to La Jolla to begin a second successive three-match week, hosting Princeton (0-3) in more non-conference action on Wednesday, Jan. 27. First serve inside RIMAC Arena is set for 6 p.m.
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