ST. CHARLES, Mo. - For the fifth time in seven matches this season the University of California San Diego men's volleyball team hit over .300 Friday, which led to a 3-0 sweep of Quincy at Hyland Arena on the campus of Lindenwood University. Scores were 25-22, 25-13, and 25-20.

UC San Diego elevated its record to 5-2 while Quincy sank to 1-5.

"This was a great three set victory today," said UC San Diego head coach Kevin Ring. "We played some stretches of really good volleyball."

The Tritons recorded a .354 hitting percentage, producing 40 kills with 12 errors in 79 attack attempts. It was their second best offensive output this season. They also owned a 9-5 advantage in blocks and held the Hawks to an .065 (24-19-77) attack.

Outside hitter Wyatt Harrison led UC San Diego offensively with a match high nine kills. Middle blocker Shane Benetz had eight kills and hit .636 while adding six block assists. Outsides Ryan Ka and Kyle McCauley each had six kills, a new career best for Ka. Senior setter Connor Walbrecht finished with 31 assists and a match high eight digs.

"We had a lot of players contributing today," said Ring. "It's nice when you have guys coming in off the bench and producing, whether it's from the service line or blocking. It was definitely a total team effort and that's great to see."

UC San Diego never trailed in the opening set and got out to a 6-2 lead. A kill by Berkeley Miesfeld brought the Tritons to set point at 24-17, but Quincy proved resilient, mounting a 5-0 run to make it 24-22. Gabe Avillion brought an end to the frame with a kill.

In the second set, UC San Diego erupted with a torrid .532 attack, putting away 15 kills with zero errors in 28 swings. The Hawks scored the first point but the Tritons won the next four and stayed in front the rest of the way. A seven point scoring spree gave UC San Diego a 21-8 lead. Four different Tritons had kills and Avillion was in on two blocks during the run.

Quincy took a lead six times in the final set, moving in front at 4-3, 8-7, 9-8, 15-14, 16-15, and 17-16. At that point, UC San Diego scored four consecutive times to move ahead by a score of 20-17. Following a service error by the Hawks that started the run, Bryce Curtis served up an ace which was trailed by back-to-back double blocks from Benetz and Walbrecht. The Tritons took five of the final eight points, with Miesfeld closing out the match with a kill. 

The Hawks got eight kills from Eddie Jakubauskas.

UC San Diego, which is receiving votes in this week's national poll, concludes Midwest action Saturday when it takes on McKendree (3-3) at 11 a.m. The Bearcats are also receiving votes in the poll.

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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