LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego and Grand Canyon University played two tight sets to open, but the visitors nipped the Tritons at the end of each before completing a 3-0 sweep in non-conference men's volleyball at RIMAC Arena on Saturday night. Set scores were 26-24, 26-24 and 25-12.
UCSD dropped to an even 1-1 in the early going with the result, while Grand Canyon improved to 2-0. The Tritons had taken back-to-back five-set decisions over the Antelopes the past two years, and were a perfect 2-0 against them in La Jolla prior to Saturday. They still hold a 3-2 edge in the all-time series.
Senior outside hitter Kirill Rudenko and sophomore opposite Tanner Syftestad had eight kills apiece to lead the Tritons, while junior outside hitter Ian Colbert had the most digs by a Triton for the second night in a row, with seven, to go along with six kills. Junior middle Shayne Beamer finished with five kills and three total blocks. Sophomore setter Milosh Stojcic had 26 assists, five digs, two blocks and a kill.
GCU put two players in double-figure kills in Gerrard Lipscombe (11) and Ryan Mather (10). Puna Kaniho dished out 39 assists from his setter spot. Lipscombe, Mather and Shalev Saada each served three aces, with Shalev adding nine kills. Libero Sky Engleman turned in a match-high nine digs.
The first two frames featured 16 tie scores combined before the Lopes controlled the third from start to finish.
Saturday's opening set saw nary a lengthy rally over the duration, with neither side leading by more than three points. UCSD kept ahead for much of it, with a huge stuff block by Beamer and Stojcic on Saada giving the Tritons a 17-14 edge, before back-to-back Mather aces around a UCSD timeout knotted the score at 21-21. UCSD went up 23-21 again on Colbert's ace, triggering GCU's first call for time. The Lopes tallied five of the next six to take it. Christian Ward registered kills on all four of his attacks.
A triple block by Kaniho, Saada and Ashton King made the second-set score 10-6 in favor of Grand Canyon. Colbert later had an incredible dig that eventually led to a point on an attack error by Ward. Ryan Schickling then immediately served successive aces to level matters at 16-16. Fellow sophomore Alec Flowers entered the fray for the first time this season a short time later, and made his presence felt right away, handling the overpass for a kill and 21-21. Another big combo block by Beamer and Stojcic, followed by a Syftestad kill just inside the line, moved the Tritons to set point at 24-22, but GCU agonizingly produced the next four points.
The Lopes trotted out at 5-1 in the third frame, and the Tritons were not able to mount a serious challenge from there. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Drew Sloane did start the set and provided his first career ace.
UCSD concludes this season-long four-match homestand while opening the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation portion of its 2016 schedule next weekend. The Tritons host No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Jan. 15, and No. 5 UCLA on Saturday, Jan. 16. First serves at RIMAC Arena are set for 7 p.m.
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