LA JOLLA, Calif. - Strong hitting and blocking led the University of California San Diego men's volleyball team to a 3-1 non-conference victory against USC Thursday night at RIMAC Arena. Scores were 21-25, 25-20, 25-23, and 25-22.

UC San Diego improved to 9-3 with the win while USC, which lost its third straight match, fell to 2-8. The Tritons have now won the last three match-ups against the Trojans dating back to 2017. The two squads did not meet in 2019.

UC San Diego hit over .300 for the seventh time this season, coming in at .393 with 52 kills and just 10 errors in 107 attack attempts. It was the second highest hitting percentage for the Tritons this year. They also held a 12-5.5 advantage in blocks, five of those coming as solo stuffs. It was the sixth outing in 2020 that the team finished with at least 10 blocks.

Offensively, Kyle McCauley had a match high 16 kills, while Wyatt Harrison had 14 and Shane Benetz totaled 11. Harrison, an outside hitter, established a new career best by hitting .619. He also added eight digs, three blocks (two solos), and a service ace. Setter Connor Walbrecht registered 44 assists to go along with a team high 10 digs as well as three blocks (one solo) and two kills. Collin Shannon ended his night with seven kills and five blocks (one solo), which equaled his career best.

For USC, Kyle Gear had 13 kills and Brandon Browning followed with 11. Browning had four of the team's nine aces. Matt Faraimo posted a match high with 11 digs.

The Trojans hit .242 (55-26-120). 

UC San Diego hosts Vanguard Saturday at 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast live by ESPN3.

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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