UC Slam Diego is back! Coming off an incredible 22-23 season, UCSD Men's club volleyball has been itching to get back into the gym and lock in for our first outing of the year, Southern California Collegiate Volleyball League (SCCVL) 's Fall Classic tournament. 

In their first official match of the season, UCSD A faced off against a retooled SDSU-B team that gave the boys a good challenge in the morning. UCSD A was able to put them away in two close sets, largely in part to some hustle plays in the final points of the match to show some SD grit. Shoutout to Middle Blocker Andrew Douglas ending the match on an open net bounce to secure the W against a surprisingly scrappy squad to set the tone for the rest of the day. 

In the second round of pool play, the Tritons matched up against Claremont Colleges A, a team that our program has not faced in recent history. This match is where the imposing blocks and physicality of our A team shined brightest, giving our backcourt easy pickups and setter Benjamin Lincoln free reign to run the offense. Tritons advance to 2-0 on the day, on track to finish 1st in pool play. 

To conclude pool play, the Tritons faced off against ASU B. By this point in the day, the squad was fully in rhythm and had no trouble putting this team away in 2 sets. ASU woke up in the 2nd set and gave us more of a challenge but we still managed to pull ahead. Tritons finish pool play 1st in their pool and on their way to the gold bracket. 

In the first round of the gold bracket playoffs, UCSD A would take on UCI A. These two teams faced off in the finals at the UCI invitational so this would be a familiar matchup on both sides. Nonetheless, the Tritons managed to repeat their success and advance past UCI A after a hard fought first set that went into extra points. Shut down blocks and big swings from the squad gave us momentum and the chance to close out the set. Tritons advance to the final four after a well fought 2-0 win. 

Unfortunately, UCSD A would fall in the semifinals of the tournament to UCSB A, the eventual champions of the tournament. Each set came down to the wire, on account of both teams facing off very frequently and having familiarity with each others style of play. The second set of the match was especially tough to lose because the Tritons had pushed the game score well into 30s but couldn't close out. UCSD A finished the tournament ranked 3rd and although the team didn't get the outcome they wanted, there is much to be proud of. There are lots of new faces on the A team this year but this first outing was a great opportunity for the team to build chemistry and an on-court identity. As a program, we are excited to hit the ground running and know our best plays on the court lie ahead!

UCSD Men’s B was entered into a pool of stiff competition, including Air Force Academy A, Cal Poly Pomona A, and ASU A, a Division 1 team that ended the previous season ranked just outside the top 25 in NCVF. UCSD was able to take their first two games against Pomona and later Airforce in clean 2-0 sweeps, holding their second seed for pool play. Unfortunately, despite a hard-fought battle in their final match, they were unable to close out against ASU, losing in three sets with a final set score of 15-10.

Ending second in their pool put the team in the silver bracket, where they would face off against UCI B, the only team that UCSD B played in the tournament who was in their league division. Irvine managed to push the game to a third set, where UCSD pulled out a close 15-12 win to advance in the bracket. Their second bracket match was against CSUN A, a 1 seed who had been upset in their pool and lost a tie to be sent down to the silver bracket. Unfortunately, UCSD was unable to defeat the A team and lost in two sets, while CSUN would go on to win the silver bracket.