LOS ANGELES - The University of California San Diego men's volleyball team was no match for No. 2 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night, falling in straight sets with scores of 25-15, 25-13 and 25-17.
With the loss, UC San Diego drops to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). UCLA is 4-1 overall and 2-0 in league play. The contest, broadcast nationally on Pac-12 Los Angeles, marked the Tritons' second-ever appearance on Pac-12 Networks.
UCLA hit a resounding .557 (39-5-61) for the evening, adding nine service aces.
UCSD surrendered the first four points out of the gate, all on kills with the last three by Jake Arnitz, before a Mitch Stahl service error put the visitors on the board. A Hagen Smith kill gave the Bruins a 12-6 advantage as the Tritons called their first timeout. Ten of UCLA's first 12 points to that juncture, were on kills from a potent attack, without a single error on 11 swings (.909).
Coming out of that break, Arnitz and Daenan Gyimah combined on the night's first stuff block, but UCSD's freshman outside hitter, Devin Pontigon (Oceanside/El Camino HS), subsequently put down three kills around a Triton service error to pull his side back to within five at 14-9. A Stahl ace extended UCSD's deficit to its largest of the frame, eight, at 22-14, as it signaled for its final timeout. UCLA hit .789 (15-0-19) without an error.
Back-to-back Stahl aces spurred the home side to a 3-0 start in game two. Kills by redshirt sophomore middle blocker Drew Sloane and senior outside hitter Ian Colbert, and an ace by Sloane, knotted the score at 4-4, before the Tritons went ahead on a big combo block by Shayne Beamer and Nathan Thalken. A 3-0 Bruin mini-run, all on kills, later forced UCSD's initial timeout of the set, now trailing 11-7.
The hosts returned from the interval with three aces from star sophomore setter Micah Ma'a, around a Christian Hessenauer kill, for a commanding 15-7 advantage and the Tritons' second timeout. The stretch was 7-0 when it was finally snapped. The Bruins served seven aces in the game to take a 2-0 lead in sets, 25-13.
UCLA used another 4-0 run to break an early 1-1 tie and trot out 5-1 in the third. Colbert's kill and Beamer's ace closed the Tritons to within one again at 7-6, but they were denied a tie score by JT Hatch's hopeful bump over with his back to the net, that found its way down for a kill to keep the Bruins on top, 8-6.
A huge spike by Stahl off an incredible bump set by Ma'a, followed by a stuff block by Arnitz and Stahl, and it was timeout UCSD, down 11-7. Three straight Triton hitting errors, and UCLA was well on its way to completing the sweep. The Tritons managed two final highlights, as Pontigon and Sloane partnered to reject Smith at 14-10, and sophomore setter Ryan Blaich rose up to send back Michael Fisher solo at 21-14.
"An emphasis heading into this match, knowing that we're playing a very good UCLA team on their home court, was to take control of our side of the net," said UCSD head coach Kevin Ring. "We wanted to be good from the service line. I felt like we were better tonight. We only missed nine serves, against three aces.
"We certainly wanted to get them out of system a few more times than we did. The flipside of that is our serve-receive. We were a little better there, a little more balanced than we were last night in Santa Barbara, but still struggled, and our offense struggled as a result of our passing.
"We had a nice contribution from Drew Sloane coming in off the bench, serving well and hitting .667 on three swings. Ian (Colbert) and Devin (Pontigon) took a lot of good swings. We want to continue to work to capitalize on our opportunities, and then not hurt ourselves in tough situations. We made a few too many attack errors, so clean up a few of those plays and we can turn the tide and win a few more rallies."
Colbert and Pontigon shared the team high for UCSD at six kills apiece.
Ma'a totaled three kills, 21 assists, three aces, six digs and two blocks for the night. Arnitz (.571) and Hatch (.692) led all with nine kills apiece on one combined error.
UCSD returns home to take on No. 7 UC Irvine in more MPSF action on Friday night, Jan. 20. First serve inside RIMAC Arena in La Jolla is set for 7 p.m.
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