Smooth Setting

Friday, March 6

San Diego, CA

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

6-13, 2-12MPSF

UC San Diego

2-17, 0-14MPSF

California Baptist

UC San Diego

Photo by: Lauren Garcia

3/6/2015 10:12:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Returning to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action on the road without its team back to full strength, California Baptist University knew it was in for a test at UC San Diego Friday night.

The Tritons came out and won the first set in front of a raucous crowd, but several huge performances helped the Lancers rebound to win the match in four sets, 19-25, 25-18, 26-24, 26-24. The victory not only increases CBU's winning streak to three matches, but serves as its first road win at UCSD since 2008. Now, the Lancers are 6-13, 2-12 in the MPSF, while UCSD slips to 2-17, 0-14.

"This is the first week in a long time we've had some extra days to get some practice in. We worked hard to get some things into place because we knew what we would see from them," Coach Wes Schneider said. "[UCSD] has definitely stepped up as the season has gone on. It is hard to play there, they're really a different team at home, but the guys stepped up well tonight."

In what Schneider called one of his best performances as a Lancer, Zachary Melcher had a career-high 54 assists, five digs, three blocks, three kills and an ace. The freshman setter had three teammates finish with double-digit kills, while the team hit .355 (63 kills, 20 errors on 121 attempts) as an unit.

"He made a lot of really good decisions and ran a good game plan," Schneider said. "It was tough in the first two sets, but he stuck with it and definitely showed some good growth tonight."

Roy Powell had a match-high 21 kills, which also set a season high for the Lancers, on a .410 percentage (five errors, 39 attempts) for CBU. The junior transfer finished a dig shy of a double-double and added three aces and three blocks to complement his stat line.

"Roy and Zach had a good connection going," Schneider said. "We took advantage of a weakness in their block we saw. He was able to get some confidence early and he really put pressure on them at the service line all night, which continued to build his confidence."

Jonathan Tuttle eclipsed a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs on the night for CBU, along with two blocks. Giovanni Llinas Rosa flirted with a double-double of his own, chipping in 11 kills and seven digs. Melcher's sets did not just go to the hitters, as middle blockers Caleb Miller and Daniel Maurer hit at very high percentages. Miller had seven kills and no errors on 12 swings for a .583 percentage, while Maurer had six spikes and one error on 11 attacks for a .455 mark. Maurer and Miller also finished with four and three blocks, respectively.

Powell came out on fire and had seven kills on 11 swings, along with four digs, in the first set alone. It was not enough to get the Lancers over the Tritons, though. UCSD took an early lead and maintained it at 20-12.

CBU began its first extended run, sparked by a Powell kill, another from Miller and consecutive spikes from Llinas Rosa. It brought the Lancers within 20-16, but the Tritons scored two more points to keep their edge and held on for the victory.

"We played pretty well in the first, but they just played out of their head and didn't have a single hitting error," Schneider said. "We knew they were going to come back down to earth and they did."

Helping bring the Tritons back down to reality was the Lancers serving. The second set was tied at 10-10 before a 6-0 run sparked by Powell's service put CBU in charge. Llinas Rosa, Miller and Tuttle all had kills in the spurt, which was appropriately capped by a Powell ace.

UCSD pulled back within 17-14, but the Lancers went on a crucial 3-0 run, bookended by kills from Powell and Llinas Rosa to give them a huge 23-17 lead and eventual 25-18 victory.

Defensively, CBU started to come together in the third set. Kevin Kustura had seven of his 11 digs in the set, while Maurer added two blocks, to hold the Tritons to a .114 attack percentage (11-7-25). The Lancers hit .400 (16-4-30) in the game but was still in for a wild ride.

A 5-1 run fueled by three kills from Powell and two from Tuttle gave CBU a 13-9 advantage. UCSD battled back to grab an 18-17 lead and built it up to 21-19. A 3-1 run highlighted by kills from Maurer and Powell helped CBU tie the match at 22-22.

The home team came back and grabbed set point, 24-23, but Miller forced overtime with a kill that knotted the score at 24-24. An attacking error gave the Lancers set point and a Powell ace delivered the 26-24 victory.

Defense was the name of the game still in the fourth go around, as UCSD was held to a .171 clip (14-7-41). Still, the Tritons were determined to not go down quietly on their home floor, and took a 12-5 lead in the final set. A Schneider timeout helped CBU regroup and led into a 5-3 run that pulled the Lancers within 13-10. They pulled within two, 16-14, with a 3-1 spurt and eventually tied the set at 19-19 with four unanswered points -- three coming on Tuttle kills.

Ties were forced at 20, 21, 22, 23 before UCSD held set point again. A Powell kill tied the match again at 24, while an attacking error led to a match-clinching kill from Melcher.

"The guys hung tough and stayed patient, and kept their composure which is really nice to see," Schneider said. "It was a good situation for them to be in, on the road, in a hostile environment and facing some tough serving. They didn't give up and held on for the win."

CBU returns to the friendly confines of the Van Dyne Gym, with another week to prepare for nonconference-foe Lindenwood, as it looks to stretch its winning streak to five matches. The two face off in Riverside next Saturday at 2 p.m.