LOS ANGELES - UC San Diego was swept by No. 12 UCLA in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) men's volleyball action Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. Set scores were 26-24, 25-17 and 25-18.
Just like Friday night at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara, the Tritons (2-25, 0-21 MPSF) again played the first set closest before succumbing, and by the third frame, found the going pretty tough against their ranked opponent on the road. Saturday's game one featured 14 tie scores and five lead changes. UCLA never trailed in the third.
The Bruins, who began the night as losers of five straight, improved to 12-13 overall and 8-13 in the MPSF as they head into the final week of the regular season battling it out with Stanford (10-15, 7-12 MPSF) for the eighth and final MPSF Tournament berth. Those teams meet in the Bay Area on Friday night.
Tanner Syftestad had a team-high six kills. Redshirt freshman Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) drew the start at a middle blocker spot and put down four kills without an error on seven swings (.571), adding two service aces and the lone solo block of the evening. Ian Colbert added seven digs and four kills.
J.T. Hatch posted a double-double for UCLA with match highs of 17 kills and 10 digs. He hit .481 (17-4-27) and collected two aces, two blocks and an assist. UCLA hit .436 (45-11-78) as a team behind setter Eric Matheis' 40 assists. Clayton Paullin (7-0-9) and Trent Kersten (6-0-8) were efficient at .778 and .750 attack rates, respectively.
Trailing 14-11 at the first timeout, UCSD scored the next three to level the opening game. Even again at 19-19, the Bruins tallied three straight for a 22-19 lead, only for the Tritons to produce four of the next five points to tie the set once more at 23-23. From there, Hatch put down a pair of kills, while Syftestad managed a kill and an attack error, the latter on Hatch's serve, as the home side narrowly prevailed, 26-24.
UCLA was nursing just a 12-11 edge in the second when it went on a 4-0 run, started by another couple of Hatch kills, to get more comfortable at 16-11. The Tritons could only get back to within three at 17-14 before another 4-0 stretch effectively ended the set. The Bruins combined on a pair of triple blocks in the frame.
Colbert's kill tied the third set once at 1-1, before the hosts notched the next two and gradually took control, turning in a third and final triple block along the way.
UCSD concludes the 2015 season at No. 4 UC Irvine next Saturday, April 18. First serve inside the Bren Center is set for 7 p.m.
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