ARCATA – After dropping the first set but battling back to take the second, the Humboldt State volleyball team was unable to maintain its momentum and fell to the Tritons of UC San Diego in four 25-15, 22-25, 25-19, 25-14 on Saturday in Lumberjack Arena.

With the win the Tritons improve to 10-7 overall, 7-6 in California Collegiate Athletic Association action.  HSU falls to 1-16, 1-12 in conference play.

Two Tritons paced UCSD's attack with double-doubles in kills and digs. Roxanne Brunsting led the way with 12 kills and 16 digs and Hillary Williamson had 11 and 10.  Katie Condon added 14 kills and Julia Freidenberg had 10.  Janessa Werhane led the defense with 19 digs.

Taylor Manuel led HSU, putting away eight kills. Defensively Brooke Ferguson had 17 digs.  Joliann Arzadon added 15 and Oceana Matsubu chipped in with 14.

The Tritons came out in the first set and controlled the play from the get go.  They built a 9-5 lead early, extended it to 20-9 before finishing it off at 25-15.

Set two, a back and forth affair, featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes.  UCSD jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the Jacks caught them at 4-4.  From that point on neither team able to build more than a two-point advantage until an attack error on the Tritons gave HSU a 21-18 lead.  UCSD closed to 21-20, but Humboldt State kept the pressure on and won the set 25-22.

The third set saw UCSD jump out to an 11-3 lead and push the advantage to 21-9.  A 10-3 run by the Jacks closed the margin to five at 24-19 before UCSD put it away 25-19.

A 10-2 run put set four out of reach early and UC San Diego cruised to a 25-14 set win and three sets to one victory.