IRVINE, Calif. — Playing its final non-conference match of the regular season Wednesday night, the 10th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team defeated Concordia, 3-1, on the road.
Scores of the competitive contest at CU Arena, which saw the final two frames go to extra points, were 20-25, 25-19, 28-26, and 30-28.
The Tritons improved to 9-7 overall while the Eagles dropped to 8-6.
The match was the third between the two squads this season and the UC San Diego victory gave the series to the Tritons.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego's outside hitters paced the Triton offense, combining for 33 kills. Senior
Kyle McCauley, the reigning Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Week, finished with a match-high 20 kills. Junior
Ryan Ka racked up 13 kills. McCauley also floored a career-high five service aces while adding eight digs and a pair of blocks. Ka had seven digs and two blocks.
The Triton middles were also key. Seniors
Shane Benetz and
Logan Clark each tallied nine kills with Clark hitting .500 (9-2-14) and Benetz coming in at .353 (9-3-17). Benetz had seven blocks (one solo) at the net.Â
On the right side, freshman
Ben Blakely totaled seven kills, one short of his career-high. He tacked on 10 digs and four blocks (one solo), both of which established new career-highs.
Senior setter
Blake Crisp had 49 assists and senior libero
Matt Palma had a match-best 11 digs.
UC San Diego hit .256 (61-27-133) to Concordia's .206 (49-22-31). The Tritons also led in kills (61-49), points (80-67), aces (8-5), digs (49-39), and assists (58-47). The Eagles held a 13-11 edge in blocks.
The Tritons' best offensive set was the second in which they hit .375 (11-2-24) while keeping the Eagles to .057 (13-11-35).
The final two points of the match came from a Benetz kill and a Blakely block.
Owen Chun led Concordia with 18 kills and Jonathan Carlson followed with 11. Chun also added six blocks (three solos), while Mason Mullins hit .700 with seven kills and zero errors in 10 attack attempts.
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WHAT HEAD COACH KEVIN RING HAD TO SAY
"It was a gritty win. When you struggle in some aspects of your game it is key to elevate your play in other aspects. Our serve receive, while solid overall on the night, did break down at times and led to a more challenging sideout game. So, our strong night at the net blocking and our consistent service pressure were definitely determining factors in the outcome of the match. The results in sets three and four, which both went extra points, came down to just making a play when it absolutely mattered. I was proud of our effort and resilience."
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TRITON TIDBITS
• On Feb. 4, Concordia won the first meeting, 3-1, in La Jolla. On Feb. 19, UC San Diego evened up the series with a sweep, also in La Jolla.
• The victory gave the Tritons a winning record on the road (4-3).
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Kyle McCauley has finished with a double-figure kill total in all 15 matches played.
• It was the third time McCauley has finished with 20 or more kills this season.
• UC San Diego's eight aces tied for the second-most this season.
• It was the fourth time the Tritons finished with a double-digit block total.
• The Tritons' 80 points are the third-most of the season.
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego takes a competitive break until March 25 when it jumps into full-time Big West action by hosting UC Irvine. Tickets for all home matches can 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.
