SAN DIEGO - It came against quality competition, but the 10th-ranked Sunbirds would suffer their first two losses of the season on Saturday, first at the hands of an upstart Cal State Dominguez Hills team 3-0 and later in the day 3-1 to the host school #13 UC San Diego. FPU finishes the UCSD Invitational 2-2.

#13 UC San Diego def. #10 Fresno Pacific 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-16)

After three long, tough matches, FPU didn't quite have enough left in the tank against one of the region's top teams. The Sunbirds (5-2) took the first set 25-23 but ran out of gas against a strong Triton team that was playing its first match of the day. UCSD remained undefeated on the season, improving to 7-0 with the win, though the Sunbirds did what only one other team has managed to do this season by taking a set off the Tritons.

"Fatigue was a major factor," said head coach Kelly Winter. "We battled a lot yesterday and the energy level today just wasn't the same. UCSD's defense was very strong. Their block touched every ball and they did a lot of things really well."

"Every team in this tournament was very good and it was one of the more evenly matched tournaments I've ever seen," said Winter. "It seemed every team could beat any other team and you saw that with some of the results. These are some of the top Division II teams and every one knows how to battle. We knew coming into this that we were going to have to be at our best in every match and I think today exposed some things we need to work on heading into the PacWest schedule."

Rupia Inck had 17 kills and 13 digs to lead FPU. Hannah Butler led the defense with 24 digs and Bissie DenHartog added a double-double of 36 assists and 14 digs. Jessie Alcorn had nine kills and 14 digs.

Sophie Rowe had 20 kills to lead the Tritons and Brittany Lombardi led a very strong UCSD defense with 25 digs. The Tritons would out-hit FPU .369 to .248 and had an impressive sideout percentage of 69% compared to 53 for FPU.

FPU now turns its attention to PacWest conference play. The Sunbirds begin on the road this Wednesday at Notre Dame de Namur at 7 pm.

"We're going to work on our sideout and just becoming more efficient in-system," said Winter. "Defensively this week we'll be emphasizing getting good touches and keeping balls alive, which was something UCSD did a great job of today."


Cal State Dominguez Hills def. #10 Fresno Pacific 3-0 (27-25, 25-17, 25-18)

Fresno Pacific suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday morning, falling in straight sets to an upstart Cal State Dominguez Hills team. The Sunbirds made too many unforced errors and hit just .087 in the loss. Rupia Inck had 12 kills and Hannah Butler finished with 19 digs.

"We made far too many errors," said head coach Kelly Winter. "Hopefully this will prove to be a good lesson for us. We can't waste energy, we have to be efficient. We can't spot a team five points and then try to battle from there. There has to be more consistency."

The Toros (7-1) remained undefeated at the tournament behind a stellar defense led by Elizabeth Krieger's 17 digs.

"They played all-out on defense," said Winter. "They're a very good team and their coaching staff has done a tremendous job of rebuilding that program."