LA JOLLA, Calif. - The University of California San Diego men's volleyball team rallied from two sets down to even force a match point, but was denied in its upset bid as No. 6 UC Irvine pulled out the five-set Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) thriller Friday night at RIMAC Arena. Game scores were 25-22, 25-19, 26-28, 23-25 and 17-15.
The result leaves UC San Diego at 0-5 overall and 0-4 in the MPSF. UC Irvine improves to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in league play.
Junior opposite and tri-captain Tanner Syftestad put down a match- and career-high 23 kills on a night in which there were many contributors for head coach Kevin Ring's Tritons. Libero Ryan Lew led all players with 16 digs. Fellow true freshman Devin Pontigon (Oceanside/El Camino HS) and junior middle blocker Alec Flowers joined Syftestad in double-figure kills with 11 and 10, respectively.
Syftestad hit .395 (23-6-43) and also served a trio of aces. Fellow junior Milosh Stojcic wound up with 43 assists to go along with three digs, two kills and an ace. Lew was back on the court after missing last week's road trip through injury.
The Tritons held leads of 8-4 at the side change, 10-5, 11-8 on a setter dump by Stojcic, and 13-11, en route to a one and only match point at 14-13, after Tucker Pikula foot-faulted on his service. UCSD senior Ian Colbert followed suit, however, to knot the score. From there, the home side fended off one match point of its own through a Pontigon kill, but another service error and a combination block by Andrew Benz and Thomas Hodges allowed the 'Eaters to escape La Jolla with a win.
Hodges and Tamir Hershko had 15 kills apiece for UCI, while Benz collected 11 kills and libero Dillon Hoffman got to 11 digs. Senior Michael Saeta dished out 48 assists and served three aces, adding five kills, four digs and two blocks.
The teams had played another five-setter, also going the way of the Anteaters, in their previous meeting in La Jolla on March 5, 2016. In fact, game four of that match marked the last time before Friday, that the Tritons took a set against an MPSF foe. Tonight's game-three triumph snapped a string of 30 consecutive set defeats in league play for UCSD. The Tritons have won a set off the 'Eaters at home in four successive seasons. Three of the last nine matchups have now gone the distance.
Syftestad's 22 kills were the most by a Triton since Johl Awerkamp's 30 on April 5, 2013, with Lew's 16 digs the most since Tanner Howard's 19 on March 2, 2016. Fourth-year senior middle blocker Shayne Beamer had his matches played streak ended at 60 dating back to the 2015 opener.
During an opening set that was mostly in UCI's control, the Tritons tried to keep pace thanks to stuff blocks by Flowers and Pontigon for 11-15, and then Pontigon and redshirt junior middle blocker Bryan Zhu (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS) for 14-16. A tough dig by Colbert led to a Pontigon kill at 22-24 and the 'Eaters' first timeout of the evening, but Scott Stadick's kill capped the frame.
The contest's only triple block, by Benz, Hodges and Saeta, gave the visitors a 9-5 advantage in game two. Sophomore setter Ryan Blaich's solo denial of Karl Apfelbach was a Triton highlight at 18-23, before a service error made it 2-0 UCI.
Aces by Stojcic for starters and redshirt freshman Xander Jimenez for 4-2 energized the home side early in the third set and ignited the comeback. Another ace, by Syftestad out of an 'Eater timeout, later tied the score at 23-23, with an immediate kill by the Sacramento product forcing UCI's final timeout of the game. On UCSD's fourth set point, Syftestad produced his 16th kill to extend the match. He indeed accounted for six of the Tritons' last eight points after they went down 23-20, through four kills and a pair of aces.
The fourth featured an incredible 18 tie scores and eight lead changes. Back-to-back UC Irvine hitting errors off of the antennas completed a 3-0 mini-run after Pontigon's kill as the Tritons grabbed an 11-10 edge. Jimenez then laid claim to a massive solo block on Saeta to break a 13-13 deadlock, and within moments, added a huge kill for 16-16. Colbert reentered the fray and immediately served a winner for a 20-19 lead and a UCI timeout. Syftestad's third ace made it 22-20. Though the 'Eaters tied it one last time at 23-23, a Syftestad kill and Saeta attack error into the net brought on the decisive fifth.
UCSD makes the short trip north to Irvine to take on Concordia (6-5) in non-conference action on Saturday night, Jan. 21. First serve at CU Arena is set for 7 p.m.
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