RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Each of the first two sets were knotted late at 23-23, but UC San Diego dropped both and was swept by California Baptist in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) men's volleyball match Friday night at Van Dyne Gym. Scores were 25-23, 26-24 and 25-16.
UCSD fell to 5-20 overall and 0-19 in the MPSF. CBU, receiving votes just outside of the national top-15 poll, evened its overall record at 14-14. The Lancers also improved to 6-14 in league play, matching CSUN (6-13 MPSF) in the win column as four teams vie for the eighth and final berth into the MPSF Tournament. CBU had also won the earlier meeting between the sides, 3-1, in La Jolla back on Feb. 5.
Kirill Rudenko's ace gave the Tritons their first lead of the opening set at 6-5. A run of three points pushed the Lancers ahead, 10-8. Another three-point sequence forced the first timeout of the night by UCSD, down 13-9. The Tritons rallied, getting an ace from Tanner Syftestad to pull to within one at 14-13, and then getting Rudenko's second service winner of the night and team-best 14th on the season to level the score at 15-15. A CBU attack error triggered a timeout. Out of the break, Shayne Beamer turned away Kevin Vaz for a big solo block and 17-15. CBU tallied five of the next six points, however, the last on a Jackson Burge ace, to regain a 20-18 advantage and force the Tritons' second timeout. Freshman Nathan Thalken came on to serve UCSD's fourth ace of the frame for 23-23, and CBU called for the game's final break. From there, a kill and an ace gave the home side the set victory.
UCSD called the initial timeout of set two trailing 9-6 after a big stuff block by Enrique de Diego Garcia and Rohit Paul on Syftestad. Those same two Lancers teamed up to deny Ian Colbert moments later for their largest lead of the frame to that point, 11-7. An ace by setter Arturo Iglesias preceded an awry Colbert attack for a 16-11 bulge and the Tritons' last timeout. The contest's only triple block, from Vaz, Rocky DeLyon and Roy Powell, made it 17-11. UCSD crept back to within a single point on two occasions, before a pair of nice digs kept the play alive for Beamer to sneak a kill off the tape and down for a 23-23 deadlock and the host's final timeout. The Lancers managed to pull out a second straight narrow decision.
A Milosh Stojcic ace gave the Tritons their first lead of the third game at 6-5. CBU produced a 6-0 stretch, however, with three service winners and a kill by Powell, and UCSD called for time trailing 12-8. Alec Flowers finally stopped the bleeding for his side with a kill after relinquishing seven straight in all. DeLyon's ace, the eighth for the Lancers on the evening, forced the Tritons' final timeout at 18-12. Powell and Vaz combined to turn back Luke La Mont, and CBU went on to complete the sweep.
Syftestad had a team-best eight kills for UCSD, with Beamer adding six on .625 (6-1-8) hitting, one block solo and one block assist. Senior libero Tanner Howard collected seven digs. Stojcic came off the bench to record 12 assists, two digs, one ace, and two kills on two attempts.
Flowers, a sophomore, reclaimed his starting position as a middle blocker after missing the previous five matches through an injury suffered late in the March 2 home meeting with Pepperdine. He came up with six kills (.333) and a solo block. Junior Josh Schmidt similarly returned to action, for the first time since March 5. Sophomore Brad Weyand made his 2016 debut at the very end of the third set.
"It was a difficult loss tonight," said UCSD head coach Kevin Ring. "The first two sets, we did a lot of really good things to put ourselves in position to win. We just unfortunately were playing catch-up late in those sets, and never turned the tide to get a lead, though we battled really hard. In the third set, it was a matter of what could we do just a little better than we did the first two sets, to turn things in our favor. Cal Baptist kept the pressure on, and we struggled with some serve-receive. That was the difference in that third set."
CBU wound up with nine aces on the night, tied for the third most by a Triton opponent in 2016. Powell had four of them, to go along with 13 kills, both to lead all players. DeLyon complemented him with 12 kills. Iglesias had 30 assists.
UCSD will head from Riverside to Los Angeles for its final road date of 2016 on Saturday night, April 2, at USC. First serve at the Galen Center is set for 7 p.m.
"We did a lot of good things tonight," concluded Ring. "We just need to find a way, as a team, to do more things better at the same time, to make the difference. We're making all the plays necessary to win. We're just not getting as consistent a play as we need. It's a team loss. It's a collective loss, but we're asking each guy individually, to step up their game. For us to win these matches, that's absolutely what we have to do. We need every guy to a man, to step up their game. That's the challenge we've put on the team, and we're looking forward to our match with USC tomorrow night."
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