LA JOLLA, Calif. — Matching its best hitting percentage of the season, the 11th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team swept past UC Santa Cruz Friday night at RIMAC Arena.

Scores were 25-20, 25-21, and 25-20 in favor of the Tritons, who improved to 6-5 on the season with their third-straight victory. The Banana Slugs fell to 3-12.

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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego hit .348 with 46 kills and 15 errors in 89 attack attempts. The Tritons led in almost every statistical category including points (59.5-34), kills (46-29), service aces (2-1), blocks (11-2), assists (39-27), and digs (30-24).

Three Tritons finished in double-figure kills including sophomore middle Nick Rigo, who had a career-high and match-best 12. The Laguna Niguel native was on fire, hitting .688 with a single error in 16 attempts. Rigo was also solid on defense, finishing with six blocks (one solo), another career-high.

In the kills department, Rigo was followed by freshman outside hitter Matthew Lim, who also set a career-high with 11, and senior outside Kyle McCauley with 11. Continuing on with career-bests, freshman outside/opposite Ben Blakely had six kills. Senior middle Logan Clark hit .667 on four kills and no errors in six swings.

Senior Blake Crisp and freshman Gabriel Dyer platooned at setter, with Crisp totaling 21 assists and Dyer collecting 13.

Senior libero Matt Palma led all players with 12 digs.

UC Santa Cruz hit .146 with 29 kills and 17 errors in 82 attack attempts.

Individually for the Slugs, Zac Pittard had nine kills and Cinjun Coe had seven. Pittard hit .571 (9-1-14). Coe led the team with eight digs.

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HIGHLIGHT REEL



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INTERVIEW WITH SETTER BLAKE CRISP



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TRITON TIDBITS
• Redshirt junior middle blocker Michael Urdahl saw his first collegiate action tonight.
• Kyle McCauley has finished with a double-figure kill total in all 11 matches played.
• The Tritons also hit .348 on Feb. 11 at BYU en route to earning their first-ever win against the Cougars.
• The three-match win streak is UC San Diego's longest of the season.
• The Tritons are now 21-8 all-time against the Banana Slugs.
• UC San Diego plays four University of California schools this season (UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz)

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UP NEXT
UC San Diego hosts Concordia on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. It will be the Tritons' final non-conference match before heading into the Big West Conference season.

The Eagles defeated the Tritons, 3-1, on Feb. 4 in La Jolla.

Tickets for home matches may be purchased here.

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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 II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 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.