BOX SCORE: #17 UC San Diego 3, #23 Sonoma State 0

LA JOLLA, Calif- Kelsey Hull scored 11 kills to lead all players, but UC San Diego held the high-powered Sonoma State offense to a .104 hitting percentage, helping the Tritons prevail in straight sets over the Seawolves (25-22, 26-24, 25-15) on Friday night in a matchup of two nationally-ranked teams. SSU, ranked at No. 23 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Top 25 Poll, falls to 19-5 overall and 16-3 in the CCAA. 17th-ranked UCSD improves to 18-4 and 14-4.

It was a very close match from start to finish, which featured 24 ties and 13 lead changes. Sonoma State, who dropped to fifth in the official NCAA Division II West Region poll after splitting last weekend, had a lot to prove and, because of it, endured a back-and-forth first set to lead 18-13. UC San Diego called a timeout, then returned to the court to go on a 7-1 run and retake the lead a 20-19. The Seawolves were able to tie the set at 20-20, thanks to an unforced error by the Tritons, but UCSD would remain on tear to close out the set with a 25-22 win.

Sonoma State would come back with a vengeance, sprinting to a 8-3 lead. UC San Diego came crawling back and eventually took a 15-14 lead. The Seawolves would bounce back after a timeout by SSU head coach Bear Grassl to score six of the set's next seven points and lead 20-16. However, the Tritons wouldn't go away on their home court, chipping away at the Seawolf lead and later took a 22-21 advantage. But, thanks to three straight attack errors by UCSD, Sonoma State held set point at 24-22. It was then that the Tritons reeled off four straight points on a kill, an ace and two blocks to win the set 26-24 and lead the match, 2-0.

The third set started off with another back-and-forth battle, but the hosts would finall pull away to lead 13-8. The Seawolves bounced back with three consecutive points, but it would be as close as SSU would get. The Tritons closed out the match on a 12-4 run to earn a convincing 25-15 win and complete the sweep over Sonoma State.

In the loss, the Seawolves were held to their lowest hitting percentage of the season (.104), recording 40 kills with 26 errors in 134 attacks. Hull slammed 11 kills, followed by nine kills by Ally Sather and Keala Peterson. Taylor Krenwinkel made 20 digs and three other SSU players also recorded double-digit digs -- Nicole Gragnola (14), Peterson (12) and Hayley Ross (11), which ultimately held UC San Diego to just a .178 hitting percentage.

The Tritons' Julia Freidenberg had a team-high 10 kills, but erred just once in 22 swings. In fact, the Tritons (36 kills) had four less kills than the Seawolves (40 kills) in the match. Jessica Werhane matched Krenwinkel with a match-high 20 digs.

Sonoma State will wrap up its four-match road trip on Saturday night, but not before it faces another tough test in No. 2-ranked, and undefeated, Cal State San Bernardino. The Seawolves and Coyotes are scheduled to face off at 7:00 p.m. SSU will then return home next weekend for the final two matches of the regular season, hosting San Francisco State (Friday) and Cal Poly Pomona (Saturday), both at 7:00 p.m.