Next Match:
at Long Beach State
4/10/2021 | 4:00 PM
Apr. 10 (Sat) / 4:00 PM
at Long Beach State
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 12th-ranked University of California San Diego men's volleyball team was swept by No. 6 Long Beach State Friday afternoon at RIMAC Arena. Scores of the Big West Conference match were 25-18, 25-23, and 25-21.
With the loss, UC San Diego drops to 3-8 overall and 3-4 in the Big West. Long Beach State improves to 4-3 on the season as well in conference play.
Outside hitter
Kyle McCauley finished with 12 kills and seven digs, both team-highs, for the Tritons. Outside
Ryan Ka followed with eight kills, opposite
Collin Shannon had six, and middle
Shane Benetz put down five. Benetz hit .455 with no errors in 11 attack attempts and also contributed two blocks. Setter
Blake Crisp had 26 assists to go along with six digs.
As a team, UC San Diego hit .268 with 36 kills and 14 errors in 82 swings.
On the other side of the net, the Beach hit .420, a season-best, with 46 kills and nine errors in 88 attacks. Spencer Olivier led all players with 17 kills while Clarke Godbold, the reigning Big West Freshman of the Week, and Ethan Siegfried each totaled 11 kills.
SET 1
• After a back-and-forth affair, a
Shane Benetz kill gave the Tritons a 9-8 lead.
• The Beach won the next five points, backed primarily by two Ethan Siegfried aces and back-to-back kills from Spencer Olivier, giving LBSU a 13-9 advantage.
• UC San Diego closed the deficit to two at 15-13 on a kill by
Ryan Ka .
• Long Beach scored the next three points to go up by five.
• At 24-16, the Tritons turned aside two set points but a Clarke Godbold kill ended it.
SET 2
• UC San Diego led for a good portion of the set and held a three-point advantage at 19-16 following a
Collin Shannon kill.
• Long Beach State won five of the next six points to take the lead at 21-20.
• A
Kyle McCauley kill put the Tritons back on top 23-22.
• LBSU took the next three points on a Spencer Olivier kill, an ace by Ethan Siegfried, and a Triton attack error to win the set and go up 2-0 in the match.
SET 3
• Blocks by
Collin Shannon and
Shane Benetz gave UC San Diego a 2-1 lead, but that would be the only time the Tritons were ahead in the set.
• In front 5-4, the Beach won five of the next six points to take a 10-5 advantage.
• Trailing 20-16, the Tritons were able to close within three points on four occasions, the last coming at 24-21.
• A Spencer Olivier kill ended the set and the match in favor of LBSU.
HIGHLIGHT REEL
WHAT COACH KEVIN RING HAD TO SAY
TRITON TIDBITS
• UC San Diego had its two-match win streak snapped.
• It was the first time the two squads had played each other since 2019.
• The Tritons and Beach were slated to play twice in April of 2020, but the season had already been canceled by the NCAA due to the pandemic.
•
Macune Gilruth made his first appearance of the season for the Tritons.
•
Kyle McCauley has finished with at least 10 kills in 10 of 11 matches.
• UC San Diego was without senior outside hitter
Wyatt Harrison for the 10th consecutive match due to injury.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego and Long Beach State play again on Saturday, April 10, at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach. The match is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.
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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 III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 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.
Return To Sport… Safely In order for UC San Diego scholar-athletes to be permitted to return to training and competition safely and within federal, state, local, and university guidelines, the athletic department implemented a number of measures designed to complement and enhance the university's highly-successful Return To Learn program. Notable actions include being physically distanced when practical, including during out-of-season training sessions; wearing masks, except when undergoing physically strenuous exercise; and maintaining proper hygiene. Athletes, coaches, and staff are testing at a higher frequency than the campus population, teams adhere to CDC, NCAA, and Big West Conference guidelines, and department officials participate in regular meetings with conference and university-affiliated physicians and the UC San Diego emergency operations staff.
