LA JOLLA, Calif.— The UC San Diego men's volleyball team got its Big West season underway on a high note Friday, defeating UC Santa Barbara, 3-1, inside LionTree Arena.

Scores went 25-19, 25-18, 20-25, and 25-19.

Winners of three-straight matches, the Tritons upped their season record to 6-8. The Gauchos dropped to 5-10.

UC San Diego is ranked No. 20 in the latest national poll while UC Santa Barbara is 18th.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the third-consecutive time, UC San Diego hit over .400, coming in at .402 tonight with 46 kills and just nine errors in 92 attack attempts. On the other side of the net, UC Santa Barbara finished at .192 (45-22-120). A 13 to seven advantage in blocks for the Tritons played a big part in stifling the Gaucho's offense. It was the team's second-highest block total of the season.

There were 17 tie scores in the match, 10 of those coming in the fourth set. The lead changed hands just four times.

Sebastian Lara led the Tritons with 13 kills and Anthony Cherfan was just behind with 12. Lara hit a blistering .571 with a single error in 21 swings. He added six digs and a solo block. Cherfan tacked on five digs, three blocks, and a pair of service aces to his totals.

Both Cherfan and Lara are juniors and are in their first year at UC San Diego after transferring in.

Peter Selcho hit .538 (8-1-13) and Jim Garrison hit .500 (7-2-10). Garrison and Josh Schellinger both totaled seven blocks.

Playing in just his second match of the season, setter Gabriel Dyer dished out 38 assists to go along with a career-best 12 digs.

UCSB got a match-high 19 kills from Geste Bianchi. He was the lone Gaucho to hit double-figures.
 
TRITON TIDBITS
• It was just the second four-set match of the season for UC San Diego.
• Gabriel Dyer was playing in just his second match of the season after missing the first 12 due to injury.  
• Sebastian Lara's 13 kills equaled his career-high.
• The Tritons' and Gauchos' head-to-head record over the 2023 and 2024 seasons is at an even 2-2 after tonight's match. The squads meet again on April 5 in Santa Barbara.
• This is the seventh season that the Big West has sponsored the sport of men's volleyball. The first season was 2018.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS  


WHAT SETTER GABE DYER HAD TO SAY


UP NEXT
The Tritons play a non-conference contest against the University of Charleston in La Jolla on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. Tickets for the match are available through the Triton Box Office.
 
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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.