Tigers Down #12 UC San Diego In Gritty Five-Set Win

Monday, March 9

La Jolla, Calif.

7:00 PM PST / 10:00 PM EST

Princeton University

4-7,0-3EIVA

UC San Diego

10-7,1-1Big West

Princeton

UC San Diego

Tigers Down #12 UC San Diego In Gritty Five-Set Win

March 10, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

LA JOLLA, CALIF. – The Princeton men's volleyball team gutted out a gritty five-set win over No. 12 UC San Diego on Monday night in California.

Taking the match 3-2 (25-19, 26-24, 10-25, 19-25, 15-10), the victory marks the Tigers' first road win of the season.

Owen Mellon led the Tigers with 12 kills on the night. Andrew Werner and Ethan Wells were behind him with nine and seven, respectively.

In such a razor-thin match, the defense made the difference as the Tigers made 36 digs and 10.5 blocks on the night. Nolan Kelly led in both categories with nine digs and six blocks, also adding 40 assists on the night.

How It Happened
The Tigers set the tone in set one, building up a five-point lead by 11-6 with Mellon and Ambrose Engling making two kills apiece. However, with a 4-0 run, UCSD was able to close the deficit and tie it at 19.

Going on what would become a 6-0 run to win the set, the Tigers responded. Mellon tallied three kills, Engling added another, and with two Triton attack errors, Princeton took the 1-0 lead.

Set two was closer, with the Tritons taking an early three-point lead before the Tigers tied it at seven. From there, the two sides went back-and-forth through eight points, landing at 11-11.

Princeton was able to pull away and hold on to an advantage for six points from there, using an ace by Werner and kills by Wells and Engling. Still, the Tritons returned with a short lead of their own.

With both sides racing towards 25, a tie at 20 kicked off another back-and-forth. Two big blocks Whitfield and Kelly kept Princeton in it at 22, and gave the Tigers the lead at 24-23. With the set tied at 24-24, two errors by the Tritons would hand it to Princeton, 26-24.

In set three, six UCSD aces and six kills by Sebastiano Sani gave the Tritons one back as they took the set, 25-10.

Regrouping in set four, both sides traded points through 9-9 and 19-19 as each team looked for a result. However, in a reversal of set one, it was the Tritons this time who took the set with a 6-0 run to cap it.

Looking to finish off the win in set five, Princeton found itself down at 5-2.

Coming back with a 3-0 run, the Tigers closed the gap. Thanks to two blocks from Kelly, Wells and Whitfield, Princeton was able to pull away with another 3-0 run to lead 9-7.

With the victory in reach, Ryan Vena added two kills and Werner added another ace, as Princeton went on to score an additional six points to the Tritons' three.

With a Vena kill calling match, the Tigers took set five 15-10, and completed the victory on the road. It is the Tigers' first ranked win of the season.

Up Next
The Tigers will stay in California for another ranked matchup at #17 CSUN on Wednesday. First serve is set for 6 p.m. PST / 9 p.m. EST.