LA JOLLA, Calif. — In the second meeting between the two squads this season, the No. 18 UC San Diego men's volleyball team was swept by No. 5 Grand Canyon Friday evening at LionTree Arena.
Scores in the non-conference match were 25-17, 25-13, and 25-17.
The Tritons moved to 2-5 overall on the year while the Lopes stayed unbeaten, improving to 5-0.
Â
------
HOW IT HAPPENEDÂ Â
UC San Diego struggled to get anything going offensively and hit a season-low .078 with 25 kills and 19 errors in 77 attack attempts. On the other side of the net, Grand Canyon countered with a .462, putting down 38 kills with just eight errors in 65 swings. The Lopes' percentage was the second-highest by a Triton opponent in 2024 (Ball State, .600).
GCU also led in assists (36-22), service aces (7-3), digs (28-15), and blocks (9-7).
Jim Garrison led UC San Diego with a season-best nine kills, just one short of his career high. He was firing on the attack, finishing with a .583 (9-2-12) attack percentage. The sophomore middle also had a team-best four blocks.
Sebastian Lara totaled five kills while
Luke Chandler,
Anthony Cherfan, and
Sam Warren had three each.
For Grand Canyon, Camden Gianni had 13 kills and 11 digs, both match highs. Cameron Thorne finished with four kills, three aces, five blocks (three solo), and four digs.
The opening set saw GCU blast out to a 24-12 lead backed by six kills from Gianni. The Tritons then put together a five-point run that featured kills by Cherfan and Garrison, a triple block by Cherfan, Garrison, and
Josh Schellinger, and back-to-back service aces from
Peter Selcho. An error from the service line ended the point streak and gave the Lopes a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second frame was close early. Tied at 5-5 following a Cherfan kill, Grand Canyon took the next three points to go up 8-5 and the Lopes stayed in front the rest of the way.
UC San Diego had several leads in the third set. Trailing 11-9, the Tritons got three-straight points coming off a GCU attack error, another triple block - this time by Garrison,
Sebastian Lara, and setter
Cameron Wurl - and a kill from Garrison to go up 12-11. However, the Lopes won seven of the next nine points to take an 18-14 advantage and a later 6-1 run closed out the set and the match in Grand Canyon's favor.
------
WHAT HEAD COACH BRAD ROSTRATTER HAD TO SAY
------
TRITON TIDBITS
• Grand Canyon also defeated UC San Diego 3-0 on Jan. 5 in Santa Barbara.
• Six players have made their Triton career debuts in 2024:
Luke Chandler,
Anthony Cherfan,
Sebastian Lara,
Leo Pravednikov,
Leo Wiemelt, and
Cameron Wurl.
------
NEXT UP
UC San Diego continues its four-match home stand with top-ranked UCLA on Friday, Jan. 26, and No. 13 USC on Wednesday, Jan. 31. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. starts inside LionTree Arena. Tickets are available through the
Triton Box Office.
------
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 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.
