SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC San Diego men's volleyball team was defeated in straight sets by seventh-ranked Grand Canyon Friday at UC Santa Barbara's Asics Invitational.
Scores from Robertson Gymnasium were 25-19, 26-24, and 25-16. The Tritons fell to 1-1 while the Lopes improved to 2-0.
UC San Diego won its season opener Thursday night, defeating 20th-ranked George Mason, 3-1, at the tourney. GCU was coming off a win against No. 17 CSUN Friday.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Grand Canyon put out a consistent offense in the match, finishing with a .324 (36-12-74) attack percentage compared to UC San Diego's .165 (32-19-79). The Lopes posted a .400 in the opening set, followed with a .222 in the second, and concluded with a .364 in the third and final frame. The Tritons out-hit the Lopes in the second set as they put together a .273 attack.
GCU out-aced UC San Diego 7-3, while the Tritons held an 8-6 advantage in blocks.Â
Individually,
Matthew Lim led UC San Diego in kills with nine.
Anthony Cherfan finished with six while
Jim Garrison and
Sebastian Lara had five apiece. The foursome accounted for 25 of the team's 32 kills (78 percent). Garrison hit .417, putting down the five kills with no errors in seven swings. Cherfan's seven digs were a match-best.
Peter Selcho had four blocks (one solo).
On the other side of the net, Jackson Hickman produced a match-high 11 kills while hitting .444. Camden Gianni and Cameron Thorne each finished with seven kills. Gianni served up five aces as well.
The first set was tight early with neither team holding more than a one-point lead. At 7-7, GCU had a three-point run to go up 10-7. UC San Diego immediately answered with three straight points to tie it back up. With the score later tied at 13, the Lopes had back-to-back kills and they held a lead the rest of the way. An ace by Lim had UC San Diego back within a point at 18-17, but Grand Canyon ran off four straight points to essentially seal the set win.
In the second frame, UC San Diego found itself down 8-3 early. Later trailing 11-7, the Tritons scored four straight points to tie the set for the first time since it was 1-1. Lara had two kills during the run. A three-point run by the Lopes put them up 14-11, but the Tritons fired off four straight points to take the lead for the first time, 15-14. It was a back-and-forth affair the rest of the way. At 23-23, GCU earned its first set point, but UC San Diego staved it off. However, a Gianni kill followed by a Rico Wardlow block gave Grand Canyon a 2-0 lead in the match.
With the Tritons trailing 6-4 in the third set, the Lopes had a six point spree that put them up 12-4. Gianni dropped three straight aces in that frame. A Lara kill brought the Tritons back within seven at 22-15, but GCU won three of the next four points to close it out.
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TRITON TIDBITS
• Triton debuts: Friday, junior transfer
Luke Chandler and freshman
Leo Wiemelt each played their first match as a Triton. Thursday, junior transfers
Anthony Cherfan and
Sebastian Lara joined returning sophomore
Cameron Wurl in making their debuts.
• Grand Canyon has now won the last three meetings against UC San Diego. The Tritons' last win over the Lopes was in January of 2019.
•
Matthew Lim started the first three matches of 2023 and missed the next 22 due to injury.
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NEXT UP
UC San Diego plays its third and final match of the Asics Invitational Saturday against NJIT (4:30 p.m.). The contest can be followed with
live stats.
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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 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.
