LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's volleyball team hit at a .418 rate in defeating non-conference opponent University of Charleston, 3-0, in its 2016 season opener Friday night inside RIMAC Arena. Set scores were 25-18, 25-19 and 25-12.
The contest marked the first-ever meeting between the sides as Charleston (0-3), from West Virginia, is in just its second year of men's volleyball. UCSD (1-0) moves to 4-7 in season openers under 11th-year head coach Kevin Ring, with its first such win since a 3-2 upset over then-fifth-ranked Lewis to begin the 2013 campaign in Santa Barbara. Friday's result also snapped a 13-match losing streak for the Tritons dating back to the end of 2015.
UCSD's .418 (38-10-67) hitting percentage was its best since a .554 (39-8-56) mark in another 3-0 home sweep of UC Merced on April 5, 2014.
Senior outside hitter Kirill Rudenko put down 11 kills to lead all players at a .474 (11-2-19) clip that matched his career best. Sophomore opposite Tanner Syftestad added eight kills while junior middle Shayne Beamer had six more with a career-high three of UCSD's eight service aces on the night. Both of those two Tritons had three blocks each. Sophomore setter Milosh Stojcic wound up with 18 assists, five digs, two blocks, and three kills on three attacks. Junior outside hitter Ian Colbert collected a match-high six digs, five kills and two assists.
Syftestad even made a rare shift over to the setter spot toward the end of the third set, and dished out a career-high five assists. He was primarily a setter all through high school and on the club team at Chico State as a freshman prior to transferring.
Though all seven Triton starters were returners, three players made their collegiate debuts Friday in true freshmen Ryan Blaich and Nathan Thalken near the end of the second and third sets, respectively, and redshirt freshman Drew Sloane also late in the third. Sloane in fact put away a Syftestad set on match point to cap the victory.
The first frame was the most tightly contested, with five tie scores and a couple of lead changes. The Golden Eagles got out 3-1 and 5-2 before the home side rallied with four straight points for a 6-5 advantage. A trio of three-point mini-runs eventually stretched the score out to a commanding 22-14 in favor of the Tritons.
Late in the second set, sophomore Ryan Schickling entered with UCSD up 18-12 and served consecutive points, the latter on his first collegiate ace, for a 20-12 bulge and a Charleston timeout.
The third set was all Tritons. Beamer and Syftestad combined on back-to-back stuff blocks early, in between a kill by each, for a 4-1 lead. Four more points in a row had the Golden Eagles calling for time, down 8-2. Beamer had a diving dig in the middle of a nice point during another 6-0 run shortly thereafter, as Colbert notched the kill. Stojcic had UCSD's lone solo block for 18-7, with UC taking its final timeout.
Redshirt freshman Luke McDonald came on for the first time out of the timeout, having missed the final 26 matches of his rookie season in 2015 through injury, and moments later, served successive aces, the first of his career.
UCSD continues a season-long four-match homestand on Saturday night, Jan. 9, hosting another non-conference foe in Grand Canyon. First serve at RIMAC Arena is set for 7 p.m. The Lopes opened with a 3-1 win Friday night at Hope International.
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