Tritons humble Warriors
POSTED: Saturday, March 14, 2009
Service errors - more often than not - can cost a volleyball team.
Last night, the “;not”; came out ahead in La Jolla, Calif.
No. 8 UC San Diego had 27 errors from the service line, including 13 in Set 1, but still pulled out a historic 34-32, 30-23, 25-30, 30-19 victory over No. 12 Hawaii at RIMAC Arena. Helped by junior opposite Frank Fritsch's career-high 33 kills, the Tritons defeated the Warriors for the first time in 40 meetings.
Jason Spangler added 16 kills and Will Ehrman (Punahou '06) 13 for UCSD (9-10, 5-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). Sophomore hitter Joshua Walker led the Warriors (4-12, 3-10) with 17 kills.
“;We had a really hard time siding out, and that makes the game hard,”; Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. “;The difference was they passed better than we did. They were in system and we weren't.”;
Hawaii had its chance to go up 1-0 when serving for Set 1 at 29-28. Spangler put down a kill to tie it at 29-29, the first of four ties down the stretch.
The last came at 32-32 on the Tritons' 13th service error. A kill by Calvin Ross gave UCSD its fourth chance to end it and the Tritons did so with a block of Walker.
UCSD cut down its mistakes in controlling Set 2, taking the lead for good at 9-8. Not even a switch at setter - Sean Carney for Nejc Zemljak - could make enough of a difference for Hawaii.
The Warriors, now 0-5 in road matches, went back to their starting lineup and found some success. Hawaii went ahead to stay at 22-21 on an ace by Steven Grgas and Grgas finished off Set 3 by blocking Fritsch.
The Tritons had a shot at beating Pepperdine for the first time ever last week but lost in five. They didn't let the first over Hawaii get away, with four kills by Fritsch giving UCSD a 15-10 lead.
The Warriors never got closer than four the rest of the way. The Tritons closed it out on a 3-0 run, capped by Erik Sierks' ace.
“;Every bit of tape we had on Fritsch he didn't go off,”; Wilton said. “;I thought we had a pretty good game plan for him. Apparently not.”;
Fritsch hit .490 and had a match-high 14 digs.
The teams meet again today at 4 p.m. Hawaii time.
UC San Diego def. Hawaii
34-32, 30-23, 25-30, 30-19
Warriors (4-12, 3-10)
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Rawson | 4 | 4 | 3 | 12 | .083 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5.5 |
| Grgas | 4 | 7 | 3 | 19 | .211 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11.0 |
| Carney | 4 | 9 | 4 | 22 | .227 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 11.0 |
| Walker | 4 | 17 | 10 | 40 | .175 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18.5 |
| Lofy | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | .125 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3.0 |
| Zemljak | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 |
| Clar | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 |
| Tuanjga | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | .143 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Cervantes | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Strotman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| China | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Dyer | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 |
| Totals | 4 | 49 | 24 | 122 | .205 | 34 | 3 | 11 | 61.5
|
Tritons (9-10, 5-9)
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Bannan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 4.0 |
| Spangler | 4 | 16 | 3 | 31 | .419 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 18.0 |
| Fritsch | 4 | 33 | 8 | 51 | .490 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 36.5 |
| Ehrman | 4 | 13 | 7 | 30 | .200 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 17.0 |
| Ross | 4 | 5 | 2 | 10 | .300 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8.5 |
| Houseman | 4 | 7 | 2 | 14 | .357 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11.0 |
| Leserman | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Sierks | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Hedland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 4 | 74 | 22 | 136 | .382 | 41 | 4 | 20 | 96.0
|
Key - g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills + blocks + aces)
Aces - Hawaii (4): Grgas 2, Carney, Zemljak. UC San Diego (8): Ehrman 3, Fritsch 2, Sapngler, Ross, Sierks. Assists - Hawaii (48): Zemljak 37, Carney 4, Tuaniga 2, Cervantes 2, Rawson, Grgas, Strotman. UC San Diego (70): Bannan 64, Leserman 4, Spangler, Fritsch.
T - 1:56. Officials - Tom Saunders, Stephanie Ctuz. A - 507.
MPSF standings
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L | ||
| UC Irvine | 12 | 2 | .857 | 17-3 | ||
| Pepperdine | 11 | 2 | .846 | 1/2 | 12-2 | |
| CSU Northridge | 12 | 3 | .800 | 1/2 | 16-3 | |
| USC | 9 | 4 | .692 | 21/2 | 12-5 | |
| BYU | 7 | 5 | .583 | 4 | 10-8 | |
| Stanford | 7 | 6 | .538 | 41/2 | 14-7 | |
| Long Beach State | 7 | 6 | .538 | 41/2 | 9-8 | |
| UC San Diego | 5 | 9 | .357 | 7 | 9-10 | |
| UCLA | 5 | 9 | .357 | 7 | 9-12 | |
| Hawaii | 3 | 10 | .250 | 81/2 | 4-12 | |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3 | 12 | .214 | 91/2 | 6-13 | |
| Pacific | 0 | 13 | .000 | 121/2 | 3-18
|
Yesterday
UC San Diego def. Hawaii, 34-32, 30-23, 25-30, 30-19
UC Irvine def. CSU Northridge, 27-30, 30-28, 30-23, 26-30, 15-10
UCLA def. UC Santa Barbara, 25-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-27
BYU def. Penn State 21-30, 30-27, 30-24, 28-30, 15-11
Long Beach State def. IPFW, 30-21, 30-24, 30-21
Today
Hawaii at UC San Diego, 4 p.m. HST
BYU vs. IPFW at Long Beach Tournament
Penn State at Long Beach State
George Mason at Pepperdine
New Jersey Tech at USC
