LA JOLLA, Calif. - The University of California San Diego men's volleyball team was swept by No. 2 Hawaii Thursday night at RIMAC Arena. Scores of the non-conference match went 25-20, 25-19, and 25-23.
With the loss, UC San Diego dropped to 0-2. Hawaii remained unbeaten, upping its mark to 4-0.
Outside hitter
Ryan Ka established a pair of career highs with 12 kills and eight digs for the Tritons. He hit .391 with three errors in 23 total attack attempts. Fellow outside
Kyle McCauley finished with 10 kills, libero
Matt Palma had eight digs, and setter
Blake Crisp totaled 31 assists.
As a team, UC San Diego hit .271 with 38 kills and 15 errors in 85 swings. The Tritons out-dug the Warriors, 28-23.
Hawaii was solid at the net, finishing with 11 blocks. The Warriors hit .302 on the night with 37 kills and 11 miscues in 86 attack attempts. They were also successful from the service line, racking up eight aces with nine errors.
Individually, Colton Cowell and Rado Parapunov each had 14.5 points for Hawaii. Cowell led all players with 13 kills while Parapunov, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week and Big West Conference Player of the Week, tallied 11 kills and six blocks (one solo). Patrick Gasman also had six stuffs.
TRITON TIDBITS
•
Ryan Ka and
Matt Palma each had eight digs, a match high
•
Kyle McCauley had 10 kills both nights
• The Tritons upped their team hitting percentage to .271 after swinging at .266 Wednesday
• The opening set was tied 15-15 before the Warriors went on a 4-point run
• In set 2, a
Collin Shannon kill tied it at 7-7 but Hawaii scored the next point and stayed ahead the rest of the way
• Set 3 saw the Tritons get out to a 7-3 lead, their largest of the night
• At 23-23 in the third frame, back-to-back kills by Parapunov and Cowell gave the Warriors the victory
• Hawaii swept UC San Diego Wednesday night at RIMAC Arena also
• Thursday's win was the 200th career victory for Hawaii head coach Charlie Wade
• Prior to Wednesday, the last time the Tritons and Warriors had met was in late March of 2019 at RIMAC Arena
• The two teams were scheduled to meet on March 27 and March 28 of 2020 in Honolulu, but the NCAA canceled the remainder of its winter and spring championships on March 12
• In this season's Big West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, Hawaii was picked to win the title and UC San Diego was fourth in the six-team league
HIGHLIGHTS
QUOTABLES
UP NEXT
UC San Diego plays its first road matches of the season next week as the Tritons travel to UC Santa Barbara for contests on March 3 and March 4. Start times for both non-conference tilts at Rob Gym are set for 4 p.m.
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
Return To Sport… Safely
In order for UC San Diego scholar-athletes to be permitted to return to training and competition safely and within federal, state, local, and university guidelines, the athletic department implemented a number of measures designed to complement and enhance the university's highly-successful Return To Learn program. Notable actions include being physically distanced when practical, including during out-of-season training sessions; wearing masks, except when undergoing physically strenuous exercise; and maintaining proper hygiene. Athletes, coaches, and staff are testing at a higher frequency than the campus population, teams adhere to CDC, NCAA, and Big West Conference guidelines, and department officials participate in regular meetings with conference and university-affiliated physicians and the UC San Diego emergency operations staff.
