ROMEOVILLE, Ill. — The UC San Diego men's volleyball team fought hard but dropped a four-set decision Saturday at Lewis, the 15th-ranked team in the nation.
UC San Diego fell to 1-4 overall while Lewis improved to 3-2.
The Flyers hail from the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA).
The Tritons play their first home match of the season on Tuesday, Sep. 17, when they host Emmanuel inside LionTree Arena.Â
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Down two sets to one, it appeared UC San Diego was well on its way to forcing a fifth and deciding set.
With the Tritons leading 23-17 in the fourth set, the Flyers mounted a successful comeback, scoring eight consecutive points to close out the match.
Ryan Ka led the Tritons with 15 kills.
Berkeley Miesfeld and
Josh Schellinger each finished with eight kills, while
Jim Garrison put away seven. Garrison hit .500, Schellinger hit .462, and
Nick Rigo hit .400. Miesfeld added seven digs, five blocks, and a service ace. Garrison also had five blocks as well as four digs and two aces, while
Gabriel Dyer totaled 40 assists and
Evan Boyle, the reigning Big West Freshman of the Week, had seven digs.
UC San Diego hit .217 on the night with 47 kills and 22 errors in 115 attack attempts.
For Lewis, Max Roquet had a match-high 19 kills. Christian Prayer had 10 kills. Roquet and Jason Gibbs each had a match-best 10 digs.
The Flyers hit .268 with 53 kills and 23 errors in 112 swings.
Both squads had 10 blocks. Lewis held a 38-30 advantage in digs.
UC San Diego scored the first two points of the match before Lewis took a lead at 4-3. The Flyers held an advantage for much of the frame minus the six times that the Tritons tied it up, the final knot coming at 25-25. A Triton serve error and a Flyer ace put the home team up 1-0.
With Lewis ahead 18-17 in the second set, the Flyers took six of the next seven points to take a 24-18 advantage. UC San Diego shrugged off two set points, but a Roquet kill moved the score to 2-0, Flyers.
The third set was again tight, staying within a point or two until back-to-back kills by Schellinger and Miesfeld plus a Flyer attack error allowed the Tritons to go up by three, 10-7. With the game tied at 23-23, consecutive kills by Garrison and Rigo got UC San Diego on the board, trailing two sets to one.
UC San Diego posted its best single-set attack percentage of the night in the third, hitting .261 (11-5-23). It was also Lewis' most productive set as far as offense goes as the Flyers hit .417 (15-5-24).
The Lewis comeback in the fourth set consisted of four kills and four Triton attack errors, two of those caused by blocks.
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TRITON TIDBITS
• UC San Diego continues to lead its opponents in digs, 157-148 overall.
• Seven Tritons have made their collegiate debuts so far this season:
Evan Boyle,
Jim Garrison,
Michael Robertson,
Brett Pursley,
Josh Schellinger,
Peter Selcho, and
Sam Warren.
•
Brad Rostratter, who was named UC San Diego's head coach on Oct. 7, 2022, earned his first win with the Tritons on Jan. 5 when they defeated Lincoln Memorial.
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UP NEXT
The Tritons play their first home match of the season on Jan. 17 against Emmanuel The contest starts at 6 p.m.
PURCHASE TICKETS 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 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 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.
