IRVINE, Calif. - History was made Saturday as the University of California San Diego men's volleyball team earned its first ever Big West Conference victory by defeating UC Irvine, 3-2, at the Bren Events Center in Orange County.

Scores were 25-20, 22-25, 28-26, 16-25, and 15-12 in favor of UC San Diego, which is tied for 14th in this week's national poll. 

With their fourth consecutive win, the Tritons improved to 11-3 overall. UC Irvine, ranked fifth in the country, fell to 7-5. It was the first Big West match of the season for both squads.

Kyle McCauley paced UC San Diego with a career high 24 kills, eclipsing his previous best of 21. The outside hitter drilled down the final kill of the contest to give the Tritons their historic win. He received the serve and passed to setter Connor Walbrecht, who teed him up perfectly for the bomb down the middle of the court. McCauley recorded a a double-double with 10 digs while adding three aces, two blocks, and two assists.
 

.@NCAAVolleyball Men: @UCSDmvb takes the 5th and the match 15-12 on this Kyle McAuley blast by the block vs. @UCImvb. @VBMagazine @offtheblock11 @AVCAVolleyball #vbscores pic.twitter.com/wxJ7p4rMJ1

— Rob Espero ???????????? (@robonthemic) February 16, 2020

Outside hitter Wyatt Harrison had 16 kills, six assists, five digs, and three aces. Middle blocker Shane Benetz finished with eight kills, four blocks, and four digs, while Walbrecht established a new career high with 20 digs. He assisted on 44 kills and joined McCauley and Harrison in the three service aces club.

Much of the match was played from the service line. Both teams accumulated a high total of serve errors, 20 for UC San Diego and 19 for UC Irvine. However, the difference came in aces with the Tritons putting down 11 and the Anteaters just six.

UCI had a more potent block, holding a 14-6 advantage in that department. That led to the Anteaters out-hitting the Tritons .242 (49-17-132) to .178 (58-32-146). 

Joel Schneidmiller led UC Irvine with 21 kills and a .432 attack. Alexandre Nsakanda had 12 kills and Scott Stadick had six kills and nine block assists. JB Kam had seven blocks (one solo).

UC San Diego went 0-10 in Big West Conference regular season matches in 2018, the first year that men's volleyball was sponsored by the league, as well as 2019. In addition, UC Irvine knocked the Tritons out of the Big West Tournament in each of those seasons. In fact, the Anteaters entered tonight's match having won the previous 19 meetings with UC San Diego. The last time the Tritons had downed UCI was on Jan. 12, 2011, when both teams were members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF).

UC San Diego has now defeated five nationally-ranked teams in 2020. In addition to UC Irvine, the Tritons have also taken down No. 3 UCLA, No. 11 Loyola, No. 13 Princeton, and No. 14 Concordia Irvine.  

A rematch comes quickly as UC San Diego hosts UC Irvine at RIMAC Arena on Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. It will be Sustainability Night with the first 500 students in attendance receiving a reusable Tritons straw. The match will be broadcast live by ESPN3.

FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN RING
It was a great victory tonight, the guys battled really hard.

We've been a team that's had a pretty solid offense for the first half of the season. We were facing one of the top blocking teams in the country in UC Irvine and our offense took a hit because of that. I think we still found ways to make a difference. We had six blocks and every one of those was crucial for us.

Heading into the fifth set, we talked about being 2-2 with the number five team in the country on their court. We went out with that in mind, fought really hard and just kept battling and making plays. We made some adjustments with different guys on the court that did some nice things for us.

We're looking forward to a great week of practice in preparation for next week's rematch at our place. 

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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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