LONG BEACH, Calif. — A season-best .525 attack percentage propelled the 20th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team to a 3-0 blanking of Central State Thursday afternoon.

Scores were 25-9, 25-14, and 25-21 in favor of the Tritons, who improved to 4-8 on the season. The Marauders are winless at 0-13.

The match was part of the Big West/SIAC Crossover, hosted by Long Beach State at Walter Pyramid. The tournament pits Big West teams against programs from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

It was the first-ever meeting between the Tritons and Marauders.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons' potent offense was able to put down 38 kills with only six errors in 61 attack attempts. Conversely, the Marauders put out a negative attack, coming in at -.114 after collecting just nine total kills with 14 errors in 44 swings.

UC San Diego hit over .600 in two of three sets - .667 (11-1-15) in the first and .632 (13-1-19) in the second. Central State hit in the negative in sets one and two. Both teams hit over .300 in the third frame - the Tritons at .370 and the Marauders at .313.

Leo Pravednikov paced UC San Diego with a career-best eight kills. He hit .429 with only two miscues in a team-high 14 attacks. Luke Chandler and freshman Leo Wiemelt both recorded career-highs with seven kills. Wiemelt hit a massive .875 with no errors in eight attacks and also added two aces and a career- and match-high four digs.

Andrew Boyle amassed 30 assists while orchestrating the Triton offense.

UC San Diego held an 8-3 lead in aces as well as an 18-13 advantage in digs.

Central State won the first point of the match on a service error by UC San Diego. However, the Tritons took the next three points and held a lead from that point. A later 11-2 run put UC San Diego up 14-3.

The second stanza was much the same. The first point went to UC San Diego due to a service error by the Marauders. Tied 3-3, the Tritons went on a 12-3 run to go up big, 15-6. At 21-13, UC San Diego took four of the final five points to close out the set and go up 2-0 in the match. Sam Warren and Pravednikov had kills during that span.

The third set proved to be the most competitive. After a serve error by the Tritons and a block by the Marauders tied it 4-4, the teams started trading points all the way up to 10-9 UC San Diego following a Wiemelt kill. At that point, Central State took the next three points to earn its first lead of the day at 12-10. Later tied at 16, a 3-0 run by the Tritons put them back in front, where they stayed until the end of the match. The Marauders did get back within two points when a block made it 23-21, but the Tritons got the next two points on a Central State serve error and a Brett Pursley kill to complete the sweep.

Tyrone Sands led the Marauders with five kills while adding a pair of blocks.

TRITON TIDBITS
• It was the first 3-0 victory for UC San Diego this season.
• The last time the Tritons hit over .500 was Feb. 8, 2017 against CSUN (.516).
• The last time the Tritons hit over .525 was April 5, 2014 against UC Merced (.554).
• UC San Diego posted its lowest attack percentage of the season (-.024) just a week ago at Concordia.

UP NEXT
The Tritons conclude action at the Big West/SIAC Crossover Friday against Edward Waters at 5 p.m. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Tritons and Tigers.
 
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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.