ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Kyle McCauley matched a season high with 20 kills to help spark a 3-2 come from behind victory for the University of California San Diego men's volleyball team at Lindenwood Thursday. Scores from Hyland Arena were 25-23, 22-25, 20-25, 25-16, and 15-13.
UC San Diego improved to 4-2 with the non-conference win, while Lindenwood dropped to 2-3.
"It was a gritty win for us tonight on the road," said UC San Diego head coach Kevin Ring. "Teams with a championship mindset find ways to win on the road and we did that tonight."
McCauley, who has now registered a double digit kill total in five of six matches this season, hit .361 with seven errors in 36 attack attempts. The junior outside hitter, who is celebrating his 21st birthday today, also contributed seven digs, four blocks (one solo), and a service ace.
Junior outside Wyatt Harrison collected 14 kills off a team high 37 attempts. A pair of sophomores turned in solid performances, including middle blocker Shane Benetz, who finished with 11 kills while hitting .409 (11-2-22). Classmate Logan Clark, also a middle, had six blocks up front.
The two senior members of the squad were instrumental as well. Setter Connor Walbrecht had 47 assists, three blocks, two kills, and an ace. Both Walbrecht and libero Ryan Lew logged a team high 12 digs.
After three sets, Lindenwood was out-hitting UC San Diego .314 to .157. However, the Tritons hit .349 (21-6-43) over the final two frames, which included a .563 (10-1-16) clip in set five.
"It was key for us to come back and win the fourth set pretty convincingly," said Ring. "We hit .222 in the fourth, not our best offensive production, but we held Lindenwood to a -.040 percentage and put a lot of pressure on them and kind of carried that momentum into the fifth set."
That deciding fifth set saw the Tritons get out to a 6-2 advantage behind kills from Benetz and McCauley as well as four attack errors by the Lions, one of those due to a double block by Benetz and McCauley. At 10-5, Lindenwood scored six of the next eight points to cut UC San Diego's lead to one at 12-11. The teams traded the next four points before McCauley's 20th kill of the night ended the match.
"Our offense was really strong in the fifth set," said Ring. "It was a little tighter than we would have liked, we missed some serves. When it came down to it, we really made some huge plays. Those are the kind of plays that you have to make, especially on the road, to be able to close out a match."
For the match, UC San Diego swung at .220 (55-26-152) and Lindenwood ended up at .200 (50-25-125). There were a total of 39 service errors, 20 of those going to the Tritons.
The Lions got 13 kills apiece from AJ Lewis and Diego Negron. Kyle Deutschmann led all players on the defensive side of the ball with 14 digs.
UC San Diego, which is receiving votes in this week's national poll, continues action at the Lindenwood Invitational Friday as it goes up against Quincy at 2 p.m.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles, and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in the summer of 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's pre-eminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 82 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarships. In competition, almost 1,400 UC San Diego scholar-athletes have earned All-America honors.
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