Men's volleyball

Lowly Tritons shock Trojans in 5

By Ryan Hochgesang
Assistant Sports Editor

Last week, the No. 10 USC men's volleyball team defeated the two top-ranked teams in the nation, Stanford and Brigham Young.
Last night, the Trojans lost to UC San Diego, 15-10, 8-15, 16-14, 7-15, 15-13.
No, that's not a typo.
Less than a week after beating the best team in the country, USC lost to a team that entered the match with an 0-6 record in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and a 2-8 overall record.
Eric Mai's 36th kill of the night gave the Tritons the fifth game, breaking their 25-match winless streak in MPSF play. Their last conference win came against San Diego State on April 18, 1995.
The win also marks the first time UCSD has ever beaten a team ranked in the top 10, and it is the team's first win in 14 tries against the Trojans.
It's also only the third conference win for the Tritons, compared to 80 losses in the last five years.
Last season, UCSD finished 0-19 in the MPSF last season.
With the loss, USC falls to 6-4 overall and 5-2 in the MPSF, dropping to second place in the Pacific division, behind Stanford.
Eric Seiffert and Chris Guigliano each had 17 kills for the Trojans, but Seiffert's hitting percentage was only .151.
Szilard Kovace added 15 kills, while Beau Bianchi made eight kills and hit .500.
Middle blocker Omar Rawi made a career high nine block assists.
Setter Donald Suxho had 63 assists and a team-high 14 digs.
Eric Mai had a team-high 36 kills for UCSD and hit .318. Jon Yarris added 32 kills and 12 digs.
Triton setter Satao Minami made a career-high 82 assists.
Guy Mount added 12 kills, five total blocks and hit .455, while Matt Minehan made 12 kills and hit .391.
USC started slowly once again, allowing the Tritons to hit .413 and take game one.
Then the offense settled down, and the Trojans made only two hitting errors to win game two.
But 11 hitting errors in the third game proved costly, as USC fell behind in the match, 2-1.
Another strong Trojan performance in the fourth game sent the match into a match-deciding rally-point fifth game.
But the Tritons hit .429 in game five to pull off the incredible upset.
The win gives Triton head coach Duncan McFarland his first ever league win.
The Trojans next play on Wednesday, Feb. 19, against UCLA. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in the North Gym.