LONG BEACH, Calif. — The 10th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team was swept by No. 2 Long Beach State on the road Friday night.
Scores of the Big West Conference tilt at Walter Pyramid were 31-29, 25-18, and 25-12.
With the loss, the Tritons fell to 12-9 overall and an even 4-4 in conference play. The Beach moved to 16-3 and 6-1 in the Big West.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons hit over .300 in the first two sets but dipped to .083 in the third to finish at .243 with 33 kills and 16 errors in 70 attack attempts. The Beach also hit over .300 in sets one and two but increased that to a hefty .474 in the third, ending the night at .377 (38-12-69).
Long Beach State also held sizable leads in service aces (7-1) and blocks (13.5-3.5). The Tritons made 16 errors from the service line.
Individually,
Kyle McCauley paced UC San Diego with nine kills.
Shane Benetz had eight and
Wyatt Harrison had four. Harrison also led the team defensively with five digs.
For Long Beach State, Alex Nikolov led all players with 12 kills and Spencer Olivier was just behind with 11. Calvin Sanborn had three aces, which came in a row in the second set.
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TRITON TIDBITS
• It was the 14th time this season that a set has gone to extra points for UC San Diego.
• It was just the second time this season that
Kyle McCauley finished with less than 10 kills.
• It was the first time that the Tritons finished with just one service ace.
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UP NEXT
The two squads battle again Saturday night at RIMAC Arena in La Jolla. Start time is 7 p.m. and tickets 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.
