Men's Volleyball
    No. 1 USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps UC San Diego
    Trojans win 14th consecutive match.
    Cassiday, Jansen, Ciarelli, McKibbin.
    Cassiday, Jansen, Ciarelli, McKibbin.

    April 5, 2012

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    Tony Ciarelli had 15 kills to lead the top-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 25-16, 25-15, 25-20 sweep over No. 11 UC San Diego in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Thursday (April 5) in USC's Galen Center.

    It was USC's 14th consecutive win, its longest streak since a school-record 30 in a row in 1990-91. It also snapped UC San Diego's 5-match winning streak, the Tritons' longest since 1990.

    The Trojans--who moved into the No. 1 spot in the national rankings this week--improved to 19-4 overall and 15-4 in the MPSF, while UC San Diego fell to 8-17 overall and 6-14 in the MPSF.

    USC limited UCSD to a .010 hitting percentage in the match that lasted just 71 minutes. The Trojans also recorded 13.0 blocks and had 36 digs.

    Ciarelli hit .324, had all 3 of Troy's aces and posted 4 blocks. Steven Shandrick added 7 kills while hitting .583 and had 5 blocks. Micah Christenson and Henry Cassiday each had 10 digs, while Robert Feathers had 6 blocks.

    For UCSD, Carl Eberts had 12 kills and 6 digs, Vaun Lennon added 8 kills and 9 digs and Chase Frishman had 10 digs.

    USC scored 2 consecutive points to open an 8-6 lead in the first set and steadily pulled away. It was more of the same in the second set as USC used a 5-0 run to build a 12-6 edge and the Trojans were never threatened while hitting .409 and getting 5.0 blocks. The third set was tied at 18-18 when a Triton serving error followed by a hitting error gave USC all the margin it needed to close out the set.

    USC concludes its regular season home slate on Saturday (March 7) when it hosts No. 2 UC Irvine--last week's No. 1 squad--in a 7 p.m. MPSF contest in the Galen Center.