LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 14th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team (7-13, 3-11 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) resumes conference play at home this week. On Friday night, UCSD hosts No. 1 Stanford (13-4, 10-4 MPSF) at 7:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena. On Saturday, UCSD hosts Pacific (8-14, 0-14 MPSF) with a 7:00 p.m. first serve. Earlier this season, UCSD lost in four sets at Stanford but rebounded to win at Pacific in four sets. With eight conference matches remaining, the Tritons are still in contention for the final MPSF playoff spot.
On March 12-13, the Tritons travelled to Romeoville, Illinois to take on Lewis. UCSD captured the first match by scores of 30-26, 30-24, 30-22 as UCSD hit at a .358 clip as a team. The next night was not as easy, as the Tritons lost to Lewis 30-26, 30-23, 20-30, 24-30, 19-17. UCSD rallied to tie the match at two sets after dropping the first two. Frank Fritsch had a match-high 20 kills in the loss.
Stanford is tied for first place in the MPSF. The Cardinal is led by Brad Lawson with 5.12 kills per set and a .404 attack percentage. Evan Romero adds 4.22 kills per set while Spencer McLachlin averages 3.07 kills per set. Kawika Shoji leads the team with 13.97 assists per set while Erik Shoji has a team-high 3.28 digs per set.
On March 5 in Stanford, the Cardinal defeated the Tritons 30-18, 30-20, 28-30, 30-20. Lawson had 18 kills while Romero had 16 kills. UCSD was led by Joel Davidson with 17 kills while Carl Eberts added 10 kills.
Pacific is still looking for its first MPSF win. The Tigers closest chance to a conference win came on February 19 at USC, a five-set loss to the Trojans. The Tigers enter the week having won their last two matches against New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Pacific is led by Taylor Hughes with 3.86 kills per set while Florian Gornik adds 3.48 kills per set. Patrick Tunnell adds 10.18 assists per set and Pacific hits at a .268 clip as a team. Sean Daley averages a team-high 1.14 blocks per set and Mark Bauhs leads the team in digs averaging 2.62.
On March 6 in Stockton, the Tritons defeated the Tigers 31-29, 30-17, 33-35, 30-24. Gornik led Pacific with 23 kills while Hughes added 18 kills. UCSD was led by Fritsch with 19 kills and 13 kills apiece by Adrian Guthals and Jason Spangler.
