SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - In the final Big West Conference regular season match for both squads, the 13th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team was defeated in straight sets by No. 3 UC Santa Barbara Saturday at Robertson Gymnasium. Scores were 25-23, 25-16, and 25-18.
With the loss, UC San Diego is now 3-12 overall and 3-7 in Big West matches. UC Santa Barbara improves to 13-4 on the season and 7-3 in conference action.
The Tritons will now prep for next week's Big West Conference Tournament, which runs April 22-24 in Hawaii. All six seeds are set in No. 1 Hawaii, No. 2 UC Santa Barbara, No. 3 Long Beach State, No. 4 UC San Diego, No. 5 CSUN, and No. 6 UC Irvine. The Tritons will take on CSUN in the opening round.
It was all about hitting efficiency as the Gauchos swung at .397 with 37 kills and six errors in 78 attack attempts. The Tritons countered at .238 with 34 kills and 15 errors in 80 attacks. UCSB also had a solid presence at the net, out-blocking UC San Diego 7-2. The Tritons held advantages in digs (30-28) and assists (34-33).
UC San Diego's outside hitters provided the bulk of its offense as
Ryan Ka (San Marcos) and
Kyle McCauley each finished with 11 kills, combining for 65 percent of the team's total. All 34 of the Tritons' kills were accompanied by an assist, 26 of those coming from setter
Blake Crisp. Defensively, McCauley and libero
Matt Palma each had seven digs.
The Gauchos were paced by Henry Hancock and Ryan Wilcox with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Both of them boasted a .474 hitting percentage and Wilcox added a match-high nine digs. Setter Casey McGarry totaled 32 assists, three service aces, three blocks, and three digs. Keenan Sanders had five blocks.
SET 1
• With UCSB leading 6-4, the teams traded four-point runs to make it 10-8 Gauchos.
• Another four-point spree by the home team put the Gauchos up 18-12.
• Trailing 23-17, yet another four-point run, this time by the Tritons, got them back within two at 23-21. McCauley accounted for three points with a pair of aces and a kill.
• UC Santa Barbara scored the next point on a Ryan Wilcox kill, making it 24-21.
• A Gaucho service error and a kill from
Collin Shannon turned aside two set points, but UCSB closed it out with a double block.
SET 2
• UC Santa Barbara got out to a 4-1 lead and never trailed in the set.
• UC San Diego tied it once, at 1-1 after a Gaucho service error.
• A
Shane Benetz kill got the Tritons within two at 11-9, but the Gauchos scored the next three points.
• A
Kyle McCauley kill closed UC San Diego's deficit to four at 17-13, but that's as close as the Tritons would get.
• Ahead 20-15, UCSB won five of the final six points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Three of the points came off Triton errors, two from the service line and one on the attack.
• The Gauchos hit .471, their highest of the match, while the Tritons hit .190, their lowest of the match.
SET 3
• UC San Diego led early, taking a 5-4 advantage on a kill by
Ryan Ka.
• UC Santa Barbara took six of the next seven points to make it 10-6 and the Gauchos stayed in front the rest of the way.
• The Tritons got back within two after a three-point run made it 13-11 UC Santa Barbara.
Charlie Siragusa had a kill and a solo block during the run.
• The Gauchos countered by winning the next five points to go up 18-11. Keenan Sanders logged two kills and a block over the run.
• UC San Diego immediately responded by taking the next three points to get back within four at 18-14, but that's as close as the Tritons would get.
• UC San Diego posted its best hitting percentage at .348.
WHAT HEAD COACH KEVIN RING HAD TO SAY
• It was a tough loss against a very strong UC Santa Barbara team.
• We played them three times this week and wanted to play a level of volleyball that's going to get us a victory or two and we certainly did that in spurts.
• Our task now is to string more of that good play together and be able to close out sets when we have the opportunity.
• We now head into phase three of our season which is the Big West Conference Tournament. You win, you move on. You lose, you go home.
• We'll find out later tonight who we face in the first round and we'll be ready for whoever it is.
TRITON TIDBITS
• It was the fifth time this season and third time this week that the Tritons and Gauchos had met.
• UC San Diego's 15 attack errors were tied for the team's third-fewest this season.
• It was the first time this year that all of the Tritons' kills came with an assist (34/34).
• UC San Diego's 16 service errors tied for the third-most in a match this season.
•
Kyle McCauley has had at least 10 kills in 13 of 15 matches this season.
• UC San Diego was without senior outside hitter
Wyatt Harrison for the 14th straight match due to injury.
FINAL BIG WEST STANDINGS
| Place |
Team |
Big West |
Overall |
| 1 |
Hawaii |
10-0 |
15-0 |
| 2 |
UC Santa Barbara |
7-3 |
13-4 |
| 3 |
Long Beach State |
6-4 |
6-4 |
| 4 |
UC San Diego |
3-7 |
3-12 |
| 5 |
CSUN* |
2-8 |
2-8 |
| 5 |
UC Irvine |
2-8 |
2-13 |
* For seeding purposes, CSUN wins tiebreaker over UC Irvine (1-1 head-to-head, both teams had 4 total sets won, CSUN had 178 points for and 171 points against)
UP NEXT - THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT
All six Big West squads head to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the conference tournament, which runs April 22-24 at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. All seeds have been established with tourney host Hawaii at No. 1, UC Santa Barbara at No. 2, Long Beach State at No. 3, UC San Diego at No. 4, CSUN at No. 5, and UC Irvine at No. 6.
Hawaii and UCSB receive first round byes and advance directly to the semifinals. In the opening round, Long Beach State plays UC Irvine and UC San Diego plays CSUN with the two winners moving on to the semis. The Tritons are 2-0 against the Matadors this season, winning 3-0 in Northridge, and 3-2 in La Jolla.
The tournament champion earns an automatic berth in the NCAA National Collegiate Championships. This year's tourney will be the third for the Big West as the inaugural event was held in 2018 and the 2020 event was canceled due to the pandemic. 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. In 2018, host Long Beach State swept Hawaii for the championship.
Here's a look at next week's schedule in Honolulu.
Thursday, April 22 - First Round
7:30 pm: No. 3 Long Beach State vs. No. 6 UC Irvine
10:00 pm: No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 CSUN
Friday, April 23 - Semifinals
7:30 pm: No. 2 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 3/6 winner
10:00 pm: No. 1 Hawaii vs. No. 4/5 winner
Saturday, April 24 - Final
10:00 pm: Semifinal winners
* all times PDT
------
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.
