LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 13th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team took No. 3 UC Santa Barbara to five sets but came up short Wednesday at RIMAC Arena.
Scores of the Big West Conference match were 22-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23, and 15-7 in favor of the Gauchos.
UC San Diego falls to 3-10 overall and 3-6 in the Big West, while UC Santa Barbara improves to 11-4 and 6-3.
The Tritons finished with several statistical advantages over the Gauchos including kills (64-57), hitting percentage (.341 to .336), assists (60-52), digs (40-36), and blocks (9.5-7). The team's .341 (64-20-129) attack was its best of the season.
UCSB boasted a strong presence from the service line, putting down 10 aces with 15 errors. UC San Diego had just four aces and committed 16 errors.
Four Tritons had a double-digit kill total including outside
Kyle McCauley (match-high 18), outside
Ryan Ka (14), opposite
Collin Shannon (14), and middle
Shane Benetz (12). Benetz hit .600 with no errors in 20 attack attempts while McCauley hit .419 with five errors in 31 swings. Setter
Blake Crisp established a new career-high with 54 assists. Middle
Logan Clark had five blocks and libero
Matt Palma led all players with 10 digs.
The Gauchos were led offensively by Randy DeWeese and his 17 kills, two aces, two blocks, and eight digs. Roy McFarland followed with 16 kills and Ryan Wilcox added 11. Wilcox had five aces, two of those coming in the fifth and deciding set, and led the Gauchos defensively with nine digs.
HIGHLIGHT REEL
WHAT COACH KEVIN RING HAD TO SAY
TRITON TIDBITS
• It was the fourth five-set match for the Tritons this season.
• UC San Diego is 2-2 in five-set matches this season.
• The last time UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara went to five sets was on Feb. 23, 2018 (UCSB 3-2 at Santa Barbara).
• The last time UC San Diego defeated UC Santa Barbara in five sets was on Jan. 8, 2010 at Santa Barbara.
• All three matches between the Tritons and Gauchos in 2010 went five sets.
•
Shane Benetz matched his career-high with 12 kills.
• Freshman
Andrew Boyle has played in four sets over three matches this season, two of them coming tonight. He registered his first career statistic with a block in the fourth set.
•
Kyle McCauley has had at least 10 kills in 11 of 13 matches this season.
• UC San Diego was without senior outside hitter
Wyatt Harrison for the 12th straight match due to injury.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara play each other again Thursday, April 15, at RIMAC Arena in a non-conference match at 5 p.m. It will be the final home contest of the season for the Tritons and the last career appearance at RIMAC Arena for seniors
Gabe Avillion,
Bryce Curtis,
Macune Gilruth, and
Collin Shannon. All action can be followed with a
live ESPN3 broadcast as well as
live stats.
THE BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP
The Big West Conference will run its annual tournament April 22-24 at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu with the University of Hawaii serving as host. All six Big West teams (CSUN, Hawaii, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara) will compete. The top two seeds receive a first round bye and advance directly to the semifinals. Seeds 3 and 6 play in one quarterfinal and seeds 4 and 5 play in the other with the two winners moving on to the semis. The tournament champion earns an automatic berth in the NCAA National Collegiate Championship. In 2019, Hawaii (which hosted that year's Big West tourney as well) defeated Long Beach State in five sets to win the league title. Both teams moved on to the national championship (at Long Beach State) and the Beach topped the Rainbow Warriors, 3-1, in the final to take the national crown. There were no Big West or national championship tournaments in 2020 due to the pandemic.
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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.
