LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego was beaten in straight sets by fifth-ranked Long Beach State in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) men's volleyball action Friday night at RIMAC Arena. Set scores were 25-18, 25-16 and 25-17.
UCSD fell to 5-22 overall and 0-21 in the MPSF. LBSU improved to 22-6 overall and 16-5 in league play. The Beach had entered the contest having already secured an MPSF Tournament berth, and the right to host a quarterfinal on April 16. The 49ers also won the earlier meeting between the sides, 3-0, in Long Beach back on Feb. 17. They move back into a tie with UCLA for third place in the MPSF table.
UCSD got all 27 of its kills from starters, with Ian Colbert and Tanner Syftestad putting down seven apiece. Syftestad added a pair of service aces and three blocks. Milosh Stojcic earned his first start since Feb. 25 and collected 15 assists and a couple of digs. Senior libero Tanner Howard, in his next-to-last match, led all players with eight digs. Kirill Rudenko, the Tritons' only other senior, had four kills, the only other ace for his team, five digs, a block solo, block assist, and two set assists.
TJ DeFalco and Kyle Ensing produced 10 kills each for the Beach. Fellow true freshman Josh Tuaniga finished with 36 assists, six digs and three blocks. Taylor Gregory was a force in the middle, gathering seven kills without an error on 13 swings (.538), alongside a match-high five total blocks. Andrew Sato had seven digs.
The opening set was closest, with seven tie scores and two lead changes, as UCSD led for much of the early going. Long Beach State tallied the first three points of each of the next two frames. The 49ers were ahead for the entirety of the second stanza, with the score knotted just twice early in the final game, at 3-3 and then 4-4.
In the first, a Syftestad kill made it 3-3 before the sophomore opposite hitter served three straight points for a 4-0 run that gave the home side a 6-3 advantage. Syftestad's ace preceded consecutive Colbert kills from Stojcic. The 49ers answered with a 3-0 stretch of their own, with back-to-back combination blocks first by Gregory and Dan Glamack, and then by Gregory and Tuaniga, to level it at 6-6.
UCSD broke an 8-8 deadlock with four more points in a row, including Rudenko's solo denial of Tuaniga, and a combo effort by Syftestad and sophomore middle Alec Flowers on MPSF Freshman of the Year frontrunner DeFalco, on successive Stojcic serves. The Beach gradually took back control, however. DeFalco's kill evened the score one last time at 17-17, as the Tritons called the night's first timeout. It turned out to be the middle of a five-point run that flipped a 17-15 deficit into a 20-17 lead for LBSU, triggering UCSD's second timeout. The visitors would ultimately register 10 of the last 11 points to wrestle the set away.
Long Beach State notched the first five points coming out for set two to force a timeout, and though the Tritons managed five of the next six, with the first three in a row coming on Flowers kills off Stojcic assists, another 4-0 sequence by the 49ers put them in command at 10-5.
The third began with dueling three-point runs, with a stuff block by Flowers and Syftestad on Glamack tying the score at 4-4 moments later. A 3-0 stretch by LBSU was ended as Colbert and junior middle Shayne Beamer turned Ensing away with a big block, but another 3-0 segment by the 49ers around a UCSD timeout made the score 12-7 in favor of the visitors. The Beach was able to complete its sweep from there. A final highlight for the Tritons was the lone triple block of the night, by Flowers, Rudenko and Syftestad on DeFalco on the first of two match points.
UCSD concludes the 2016 campaign at home against No. 10 CSUN on Saturday, April 9. First serve on Senior Night at RIMAC Arena is slated for 7 p.m., after Howard and Rudenko are recognized for their career contributions to the program.
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