SAN BERNARDINO, Calif- Sophomore Brooke Moore had a game-high nine kills and added five blocks, but fourth-seeded UC San Diego held the powerful arms of Keala Peterson and Ally Sather to just eight combined kills en route to a three-set sweep (25-23, 25-14, 25-17) over fifth-seeded Sonoma State in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship Tournament on Thursday in San Bernardino. The Seawolves end their 2010 campaign at 17-10 overall.

"We replaced four starters and made it back to regionals this season," head coach Bear Grassl said. "All in all, it was a really good year."

Looking for their first-ever postseason victory, the Seawolves got off to a bit of a slow start in the opening frame, but managed to keep the Tritons within striking distance. However, down 12-9, Sonoma State surrendered three straight points to force Grassl to call a timeout with his team down 15-9. Following the team huddle, a kill by Sather put SSU down five at 15-10, but UCSD blocked and aced its way to a 17-10 lead.

Not down and out, the Seawolves came knocking on the door and scored six of the set's next seven points to climb within two points at 18-16. Both teams would trade sideouts and Sonoma State eventually forced a 23-23 tie, but two straight Triton kills would give UCSD the 1-0 match lead.

The second set was over just as soon as it started. UC San Diego raced out to an 8-1 lead and never looked back. They held Sonoma State to just five kills and a -.037 hitting percentage in the frame to take a commanding two sets to none lead.

The Seawolves were able to grab their first leads of the match in the third set, 1-0 and 2-1, but could never extend their lead by more than a point the rest of the way. SSU forced a 12-12 score after scoring three straight points, but UC San Diego took the lead for the final time and ran away with the three-set victory over Sonoma State, sending the Seawolves packing.

"Tonight we showed some of our inexperience and youth," Grassl added. "We put up a good fight in game one, before succumbing to the pressure in games two and three."

It was the fifth straight win for the Tritons over the Seawolves, who made its fourth overall appearance in the NCAA tournament. SSU is still looking for its first postseason win. UC San Diego came into Thursday's match on a blazing hot streak and have now won 12 of their last 13 matches. They will face the winner of the Cal State San Bernardino-BYU-Hawaii match scheduled for later on this evening.

For the first time since both Sather and Peterson began playing together at Sonoma State at the start of last season, they were held under 10 combined kills (with the exception of a 3-0 SSU victory over Evergreen State on Sept. 4, 2009 when the two played just one set each). Sather had five kills on Thursday while Peterson added three.

Moore stepped up and had a big game, smashing nine kills with three errors in 18 attacks (.333 hitting percentage) while stuffing the Triton offense on five occasions. Taylor Krenwinkel led all players with 20 digs, upping her career total to 1,538 -- just 167 digs short of Sonoma State's career digs record.

The Sonoma State offense was held under .100 (hitting percentage) for the first time this season at .056. The Seawolves were outhit in kills (42-25) and percentage (.220-.056). Nine of the 14 Seawolves who saw action on Thursday, recorded a kill.

UC San Diego's Katie Condon matched Moore's kill mark (9) to lead the Tritons. She and Janessa Werhane recorded 15 digs on defense while Julia Freidenberg and Cara Simonson had five blocks apiece.

Sonoma State finished its 2010 season with a 17-10 overall record and finished fourth in the CCAA standings.