USC
<b>*UC San Diego (LC)</b>
No. 14 USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps UC San Diego
March 10, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
March 10, 2006
Juan Figueroa had 18 kills and 10 digs and teammate Joao Grangeiro added 12 kills and another 10 digs to lead the No. 14-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 30-28, 30-24, 31-29 sweep over UC San Diego in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (March 10) in USC's Lyon Center.
The Trojans improved to 10-11 overall and 6-9 in the MPSF, while UC San Diego lost its 11th consecutive match to fall to 1-18 overall and 0-14 in league play.
Grangeiro hit .455 and had 4 blocks, while Matt Mosko had 9 kills (hitting .467) and 5 blocks, Jimmy Killian had 6 blocks and 7 digs and Luke Morris added 11 digs.
For the Tritons, Chris Sayers had 14 kills, 4 blocks and 2 aces, Jon Daze added 13 kills and 11 digs and Eric Lesserman had 15 digs.
USC hit .325 to UCSD's .202. The Trojans had more blocks (13.5 to 8.5), but the Tritons served 5 aces.
In the first game, USC pulled away from a 26-26 tie by scoring the next 3 points on a UCSD hitting error and then kills by Chris Jones and Grangeiro. USC had 8.5 blocks in the opening game and limited the Tritons to a .068 hitting mark. The Trojans edged out front a bit earlier in the second game, moving out to a 15-13 lead which they never relinquished while hitting .333. USC seemed comfortably ahead near the end of the third game with a 28-25 lead, but UCSD fought back to knot the game at 29-29 before a pair of Grangeiro kills ended the match.
USC next hosts No. 6 Long Beach State in a MPSF match on Saturday (March 11) at 7 p.m. in the Lyon Center. Former USC head coach Ernie Hix, who guided the Trojans to their first-ever NCAA titles (1977 and 1980), will be honored during the match, with a reception to follow in the Galen Center.
