LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 12 UC San Diego men's volleyball team lost key points late in each of the first two sets and ultimately dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 9 Cal State Northridge in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) match at RIMAC Arena on Friday night. Game scores were 25-23, 27-25 and 25-20.

Having suffered a second straight defeat, the Tritons fell to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the conference. The Matadors moved to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in league play.

Chase Frishman, UCSD's fourth-year senior libero, got to a match-high nine digs, becoming just the sixth player in program history to reach the 500-dig mark for his career. The Dana Point native now has 508.

The first two frames of the contest were tight, competitive affairs, featuring a total of 27 tie scores and 11 lead changes, but the visiting Matadors made the necessary plays down the stretch to take both sets.

Sitting at 19-19 in the first game, UCSD took a two-point lead via a CSUN service error and a kill by sophomore opposite Cheyne Hayes. After calling their second and final timeout, however, the Matadors got a kill by Drew Staker and an ace from Travis Magorien to even things. Coming out of a Triton timeout, Magorien's second straight ace gave Northridge a 22-21 advantage.

A Carl Eberts kill and a bad CSUN attack gave UCSD one last lead at 23-22. A service error, Eberts attack error and Staker kill gave the set to the Matadors.

In the second game, a combination block by Eberts and junior middle Sebastian Brady gave UCSD a seemingly-commanding advantage at 23-20, but three points later, a Staker ace had knotted the score at 23-23. The Tritons navigated their way around a pair of set points through a Brady kill and John Baker service error, but a Jared Moore kill and attack error from Vaun Lennon awarded the set to CSUN.

Cal State Northridge overturned a two-point deficit early and used a four-point run to take control of the third frame at 15-9. UCSD pulled two points back on a Mike Brunsting kill and a rousing solo stuff block by Eberts on Brandon Lebrock, but the Matadors managed to hold on the rest of the way to complete the sweep.

Eberts finished the match with a team-high 12 kills. Brady worked the quick-kill with sophomore setter Garrett Dempsey to perfection throughout the night to the tune of eight kills on 10 swings without an error for a career-best .800 attacking percentage. Dempsey had 30 assists and six digs.

For Cal State Northridge, Baker put down a match-high 14 kills. Magorien wound up with 32 assists, three blocks and a match-high three aces.

The Tritons are right back at RIMAC Arena on Saturday night, Jan. 26, hosting No. 7 Long Beach State. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The UCSD women's soccer team will be recognized in a special ceremony in between the second and third sets, with its Division II national runner-up banner from the 2012 season being unveiled.

Triton Notes: With his 12 kills tonight, Carl Eberts increased his career total to 856, ninth-most in program history, as he vies to become just the fifth Triton ever to reach the 1,000-kill plateau ... Eberts has 45 matches with 10-plus kills for his career, including six this season ... With his nine digs, Chase Frishman now has 508 for his career, sixth-most on the all-time UCSD list ... Freshman opposite Josh Lake, a Poway native out of Poway High School, made his college debut, playing in the first and second sets, serving four times and notching a dig.

-- UCSDtritons.com --