IRVINE, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's volleyball team pulled out two close games and closed out a straight-set sweep over Concordia Irvine in non-conference action at CU Arena on Thursday night. Set scores were 27-25, 29-27 and 25-19.
UCSD improved to 5-17 overall and 5-1 outside of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play, in snapping a four-match losing streak. Concordia fell to 10-4 overall with a second defeat in as many nights to MPSF opposition, having lost 3-1 at UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday. The Eagles still entered as winners of 30 straight home contests, dating back to a 3-2 setback to Grand Canyon on Jan. 17, 2014. They had topped the Tritons in each of their two previous meetings, in 2015.
Two Tritons reached double figures in kills. Tanner Syftestad led all players with 14, to go along with five digs, five blocks and two aces. Kirill Rudenko added 11 kills and contributed a season-high four aces. UCSD had seven aces on the night, to just one for CUI. Junior Shayne Beamer finished with seven kills on career-best .500 hitting (7-1-12), with fellow middle Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) collecting six kills and a season- and match-high seven total blocks. Ian Colbert had seven kills and a team-high six digs, with freshman setter Ryan Blaich dishing out 35 assists. All 47 UCSD kills came from its six starters.
Ryan Anselmo and Joseph Pillon had 10 kills apiece for Concordia. Griffin Ender handled a match-high 15 digs.
The first two frames featured a total of 21 tie scores and eight lead changes. In the opener, UCSD overturned a 7-4 deficit with a 4-0 run, with Rudenko serving three straight aces. Down 12-9, the Tritons tallied three more in a row, with two Syftestad aces following a Beamer kill. The Eagles registered the next three, however, as UCSD head coach Kevin Ring called the night's first timeout. The home side maintained a slight edge and reached a pair of set points at 24-22 on a Pillon kill. Syftestad put down a kill and combined with Zhu on a stuff block for 24-24, and the Eagles asked for time. Another Syftestad kill for UCSD's first set point, was cancelled out by a service error, before a Zhu kill and Pillon attack error gave the Tritons the game.
Concordia came out firing in the second and took a 6-2 lead, but UCSD answered by recording five of the next six for a 7-7 deadlock. Trailing by one at 15-14, the Tritons notched four straight through a CUI timeout to lead, 18-15. UCSD led 22-19 at the second Eagle timeout, before the hosts managed five of the next six to gain the first set point at 24-23. Coming out of their second timeout, the Tritons levelled matters on a Colbert kill. After the sides traded set points, kills by Beamer and Rudenko gave UCSD two more, with the visitors finally converting the latter as Blaich and Zhu teamed up to deny Anselmo.
The Tritons were then in control for the most part in set three, trotting out to a 14-5 advantage through a huge 7-0 run. The Eagles actually put together a massive rally with 11 of 14 points pulling them to within just one again at 17-16. They never did catch all the way up, though, and UCSD held on to complete the sweep, scoring six of the last seven points.
"This was a great victory tonight against a good Concordia team in three sets," said Ring. "We didn't quite have the consistency I would have liked with our offensive production, but what I thought we did really, really well, was we played the big points big. We were down in the first set, and Concordia was siding out for the set. We did a nice job coming back. In the second set, we were up late, and they were able to tie it up, but we kept our composure and won. We had a pretty sizeable lead in set three. Again our offense could have been a little more consistent. They made some good plays and good serves, but we pulled it out.
"Tanner Syftestad had a nice night with his 14 kills and two aces, as well as Kirill Rudenko with his 11 kills. It was also great to get Shayne Beamer back on track, hitting .500 with seven kills."
UCSD is now idle for 14 days while the Tritons take winter quarter final exams next week. They will begin the stretch run of the 2016 season with a pair of home dates against second-ranked preseason MPSF favorite BYU, on Friday, March 25, and Saturday, March 26. First serves inside RIMAC Arena are set for 7 p.m. each night.
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