UC San Diego Stuns No. 1 Hawai‘i in Five Sets at Big West Championship
The UC San Diego men's volleyball team did what no other team could do this season as it handed Hawaii, the nation's top-ranked squad, its first loss of the season.
The fourth-seeded Tritons dished out a gutsy performance to defeat the top-seeded Rainbow Warriors, 3-2, Friday in a Big West Championship semifinal at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Scores were 22-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23, and 18-16.
The win advances UC San Diego to Saturday's conference title match against third-ranked and second-seeded UC Santa Barbara.
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Second-Seeded Gauchos Advance to First-Ever Big West Championship
Second-seeded UC Santa Barbara men's volleyball knocked off the two-time defending national champions Friday night defeating Long Beach State 3-1 to advance to its first ever Big West Conference Championship. The Gauchos fell behind early but planted their feet in the second set to take a four-set victory 16-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-15.
"You know typically when you get beat like that in the first the game, you don't always come back from that the way we did," head coach Rick McLaughlin said. "And that's a tribute to these guys. They didn't flinch. They didn't feel anything after that first game, and I knew they were locked in."
Ryan Wilcox led the team with 16 kills and three aces on a .324 hitting percentage, with Ryan Pecsok pacing the team with a career-high 17 digs. Randy DeWesse added 12 kills of his own and Donovan Todorov led the team with six block assists.
COMPLETE RECAP
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Photos by Andrew Lee