LA JOLLA, Calif. - The University of California San Diego fell for the first time this season at the hands of the formidable second-ranked Bruins of UCLA, 3-0, in a non-conference men's volleyball match at RIMAC Arena on Tuesday night. Set scores were 25-23, 25-18 and 25-18, in front of 671 spectators.
UC San Diego drops to 3-1, while UCLA, idle since Jan. 10, remains perfect at 5-0. The teams were Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) rivals for the past 25 seasons, but the Tritons are now in the first-year Big West Conference.
Senior opposite Tanner Syftestad, who began the week as the national leader in kills per set and points per set, finished with a match-high 14 kills on .324 hitting (14-3-34), adding four digs. It marked his 40th career match in double-figure kills.
Senior outside hitter JT Hatch paced the Bruins with 13 kills at a .480 rate (13-1-25), with five digs and two assists.
As a team, UCLA out-hit UC San Diego, .360-.160, and out-blocked the Tritons, 8.0-3.0.
The Bruins scored the night's first two points and held a 9-4 lead at the initial timeout by UCSD head coach Kevin Ring. His Tritons battled back and tallied five of six to get to within one at 12-11 and force UCLA's John Speraw, also the head coach of the U.S. men's national team, to call for time.
Though the Bruins came out of that break in the action and grabbed the next three points, the Tritons used a 4-0 run to level matters at 16-16, on a kill by junior outside hitter Nathan Thalken. The last of five tie scores came at 23-23 through a combination block by seniors Alec Flowers and Milosh Stojcic. That's when kills by Hatch and Dylan Missry gave the visitors the set.
UCLA led from start to finish in the second after earning the first three points and five of six.
The third frame was a tighter affair, with seven tie scores and four lead changes. UCSD held its first edge of the night at 2-1 early on a Syftestad kill. The Tritons blazed to a 10-6 advantage following a huge block and then a kill by true freshman Wyatt Harrison and forced a timeout, but UCLA scored the next four, including back-to-back stuff blocks by sophomore Daenan Gyimah and senior Christian Hessenauer.
Coming out of a Triton timeout, junior setter Micah Ma'a served a second straight ace to extend the run to 5-0 and put the Bruins back on top. A Harrison kill made it 11-11, but UCLA got the next four points and ultimately completed the sweep.
Stojcic wound up with 25 assists, a block assist, one kill and five digs to share the team high. Harrison provided some relief off the bench with three kills and his block.
Gyimah collected a match-best six blocks to go along with five kills and an ace. Ma'a had 29 assists, five kills on five tries, and match highs of two aces and seven digs.
UC San Diego continues a season-long four-match homestand this Friday night, Jan. 19, hosting UC Santa Cruz (6-0), ranked No. 8 in the preseason Division III poll. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside RIMAC Arena on North Campus in La Jolla.
Triton Notes: UC San Diego was 3-0 entering the match, for the first time since 1996 ... The last time UCSD and UCLA faced off without being members of the same conference, was Jan. 11, 1992, a 3-0 Bruin sweep in Westwood ... The previous non-conference matchup was on Jan. 4, 2013, at the UC Santa Barbara Asics Invitational, that one a five-set decision for UCLA ... Tanner Syftestad's 14 kills give him 888 for his career, still 10th all-time at UC San Diego, as he vies to become just the sixth Triton men's volleyball player to reach the 1000-kill milestone ... Syftestad's 34 attacks give him 2228 for his career, eighth all-time ... Milosh Stojcic's 25 assists give him 1912 for his four-year career, still seventh all-time, as he is close to becoming the sixth Triton ever to get to 2000 assists ... UC San Diego had out-blocked its first three opponents in 2018, prior to tonight ... UCLA has won the last 12 meetings.
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