HONOLULU — The No. 9 UC San Diego men's volleyball team was ousted from the Outrigger Big West Conference Championship Thursday as it fell in straight sets to No. 14 UC Irvine in the first round.
Scores from SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of the University of Hawaii were 25-23, 25-20, and 30-28. Fourth-seeded UC San Diego fell to 13-11. UC Irvine, the tourney's fifth seed, improved to 11-15 and advances to play No. 1 seed and third-ranked Long Beach State in a semifinal Friday.
In the late first round match-up, third-seeded UC Santa Barbara swept sixth-seeded CSUN and will play Hawaii, the No. 2 seed, in Friday's other semifinal.
First Round: Thursday, April 21
Match 1: No. 5 UC Irvine 3, No. 4 UC San Diego 0
Match 2: No. 3 UC Santa Barbara 3, No. 6 CSUN 0
Semifinals: Friday, April 22
Match 3, 7:30 p.m. Pacific: No. 1 Long Beach State vs. No. 5 UC Irvine
Match 4, 10 p.m. Pacific: No. 2 Hawaii vs. No. 3 UC Santa Barbara
Final: Saturday, April 23
Match 5, 10:30 p.m. Pacific: Winner Match 3 vs. winner Match 4
The Big West Tournament champion earns the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA National Collegiate Championships, which take place May 5-7 at UCLA.
For complete info on the conference tournament, including links to live coverage, please visit
Championship Central.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
After a tight first set in which UC Irvine hit .241 and UC San Diego hit .222, the Anteaters turned it up by hitting .538 in the second and .448 in the third to finish at .405 (44-10-84). The Tritons weren't able to counter, hitting .208 in the second frame and .250 in the third for a .230 (37-17-87) attack overall.
UCI held a 8-3 lead in blocks, which added to UC San Diego's offensive struggles.
In the final set, the Tritons led by four at 16-12 following a service error by the Anteaters. However, trailing 20-18, UC Irvine rallied for three consecutive points to go up, 21-20. The Tritons won three of the next four points to pull ahead again, 23-22. The Anteaters won the next two points to get to match point, but it was stymied by the Tritons. UCI also had match points at 25-24 and 28-27, while UC San Diego held match points at 26-25 and 27-26. Tied at 28-28, the Anteaters got a kill from Francesco Sani followed by a triple block by Sani, Hilir Henno, and Alexandre Nsakanda to clinch the win.
Both squads had just one player hit a double-figure kill total. For UC San Diego, that was senior outside hitter
Kyle McCauley with 13, while Sani finished his night with a match-high 19 for UC Irvine. McCauley added three aces and a match-high seven digs. Also for the Tritons, junior outside
Ryan Ka had nine kills and senior opposite
Wyatt Harrison had seven kills and hit .400 while tacking on three blocks. Senior setter
Blake Crisp had 31 assists.
For UC Irvine, Henno and Cole Gillis each had nine kills. Sani not only had the 19 kills, but he hit .581 from the right side. Henno, Brian Garcia, and Aiden Wolf-Nielsen all had three blocks.
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POST-MATCH PRESSER
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TRITON TIDBITS
• UC San Diego had won the previous three meetings with UC Irvine, including sweeping the two-match regular season series in 2022.
• It was the 14th time this season that
Kyle McCauley had multiple aces in a match.
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
