IRVINE, Calif. — No. 11 UC San Diego men's volleyball avenged two regular season five-set losses to No. 9 UC Santa Barbara with a 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of the Gauchos on Thursday in the first round of The Big West Championship.
 
The fifth-seeded Tritons hit .337 while holding the fourth-seeded Gauchos to .223. UC San Diego also had a 9-6 advantage in aces and a 10-6 advantage in blocks.
 
Setter Cameron Wurl had another strong all-around performance, finishing with 32 assists, six blocks, five kills and two aces. Opposite Josh Ewert had 13 kills, and outside hitter Sebastiano Sani finished with 10 kills and three aces.
 
The Tritons advanced to the semifinals with the victory, which will be on Friday. UC San Diego will match up with top-seeded Hawai'i.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego started set one hot, forcing a UC Santa Barbara timeout after the Tritons built an early 9-2 lead. Ewert and Sani each had a pair of kills at that point, with Sani and Wurl both registering aces. Sani then landed another ace after the timeout to help the Tritons later lead by 10 at 14-4. UC San Diego was then up 18-10 until the Gauchos cut the lead to five, but the Tritons responded with a 4-1 burst to take a commanding 24-16 lead. UC Santa Barbara survived three set points before a service error ended set one at 25-19 for UC San Diego.
 
The roles were reversed to start the second as the Tritons were forced to take an early timeout after trailing 7-3. They fought back to tie the score at 13, but they did not take the lead in the set until an Ewert kill put the Tritons up 18-17. UC Santa Barbara then rallied back to take a 21-19 lead and force another Triton timeout. From there Wurl took over with a kill and two blocks on the next three rallies. Leo Pravednikov then added two-straight aces to see the Tritons up 24-21. The Gauchos got a kill on the next rally before Ewert landed a kill of his own to give UC San Diego the 25-22 set two win.
 
A tight third set featured nine ties and four lead changes. The Tritons led 15-11 at the media timeout until having to take a timeout of their own shortly thereafter as the Gauchos came back to tie the score at 16. UC Santa Barbara then led 17-16 until the Tritons scored four-straight points. The Gauchos chipped away at that advantage, cutting it down to one at 23-22. Ewert then had a kill before Sani walked it off with an ace to secure the 25-22 set three and 3-0 victory.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• The Tritons advanced to the semifinals of The Big West Championship in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history. They have now reached that round three times in the eight-year history of The Big West postseason.
• Wurl set new career highs in points (10.5) and kills (5) while tying his career highs in blocks (6) and aces (2).
• Thursday marked the first sweep between UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara since 2021. The Tritons swept the Gauchos for the first time since 2013.

QUOTABLE
"I was really proud of our guys' ability to take over from the end line with our serves," head coach Brad Rostratter said. "Our Achilles heel the last 10 sets we played against the Gauchos was fighting off their aces and being able to consistently play volleyball against them. I thought we made a tremendous stride forward in that area. We also responded really well as a collective group in the second set—whether it be with our passers, our setting, our attacking, or our blocking—to be able to bounce back and bring us back in that second set."
 
UP NEXT
The semifinal with Hawai'i will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Friday at the Bren Events Center on the Campus of UC Irvine. The match will also be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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 has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 39 have garnered 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 NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.