IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine men's volleyball team kicked off the week with a match against UC San Diego before starting conference play this weekend. The Golden Eagles were able to fight off the Tritons winning in four with final scores 25-23, 22-25, 25-15, and 25-21.

 
Uriel Batista led CUI Tuesday night with 20 kills while putting up an impressive .421 hitting percentage throughout the match. Batista also led the Golden Eagles from the back line serving up three aces that were no match for the Tritons.

 
Both outside hitters Johnny Anselmo and Scott Montez had very similar numbers both scooping up six digs and contributed an ace. Anselmo finished the match with nine kills while Montez was right behind with seven.
 

There was a block party tonight for the Golden Eagles as Mason Mullins and Gil Herold had a combined of five solo blocks and tallied five kills a-piece. The solo blocks came at critical times for CUI during the match that kept the game alive and keep the momentum alive on the Green and Gold side.

 
Setter Nathan Biteau dished out 38 assists while throwing down a kill and Jacob Reilly dug up 11 from the back row as the libero. Defensively the Golden Eagles did not allow the Tritons an ace throughout the entire match which marks the first time for CUI this season. Slater Fuhrman came into each set and served up two aces that were unreturnable from UC San Diego.


After losing the second set CUI bounced back in dominating fashion and did not allow UCSD to go on any runs and continue their momentum to their advantage to take a 25-15 win in the third. The Tritons had the lead in the fourth and at about half way through Anselmo went on a run at the service line to bring them within just one and ultimately take the lead and run with it until the end.
 
The Golden Eagles will start MPSF play against BYU Friday Feb. 24 and finish the series the following night Saturday Feb. 25 with both starting at 7 p.m. in the CU Arena.

To see the full CUI men's volleyball schedule click HERE.

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