UCSD Volleyball Team Losing Games, Not Respect : Grand Prix: The Tritons, the only Division III team in the national top 20, have gotten to this point with home cooking.

UC San Diego had just suffered a 15-8, 15-3, 13-15, 15-12 loss to No. 15 Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne Saturday night in the ASICS Grand Prix volleyball tournament at San Diego State. It was the Tritons’ fourth consecutive loss in the tournament.

So why was Coach Digger Graybill smiling?

Well, it could have something to do with the fact that UCSD is the only non-Division I team in the tournament. Or that UCSD is the only Division III school ranked in the top 20 nationally (No. 20). And maybe, just maybe, it’s because UCSD, which has no scholarship players, has been, as Graybill put it, “making the Division I teams earn their wins against us.”

On paper, the Tritons do not belong in this event. Not only do they lack scholarship players, but their most fertile recruiting ground is the UCSD campus itself.

Seven players on the 15-man roster were not recruited out of high school. They had already enrolled at UCSD, heard about the team and tried out.

“Hmmm . . . I think I’ll take volleyball this trimester.”

Included in that group is one of the team’s two seniors, John Lim, who played at Granada Hills High on a Southern Section championship team before enrolling at UCSD.

Also among the seven is junior John Fulmer, a Bonita Vista graduate who never played high school volleyball but excelled in basketball. He played one year in that sport at U.S. International before transferring to UCSD, where he planned to continue but instead became interested in volleyball.

Junior Tom McCutchen, a Gompers graduate, also came to UCSD for academic reasons. “You know, he’s been on the verge of being cut every year, but every year he comes through, and now he’s even earned a nickname. We call him McClutchen,” Graybill said.

Perhaps UCSD’s top performer is sophomore Nate Brown from Harbor High in Santa Cruz. Against Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne, Brown came through with 28 kills and a .511 hitting percentage. He had 15 kills in an earlier loss to Santa Barbara and 22 Friday against George Mason.

“He won’t make the all-tournament team,” Graybill said. “But he sure gets my vote.”

In other tournament action, San Diego State, ranked 12th, won its third match by defeating No. 17 Rutgers, 15-9, 15-11, 15-7. Douglas Moreland had 15 kills and a .455 hitting percentage. SDSU then lost to No. 3 Hawaii, 15-8, 13-15, 15-12, 15-10, giving the Rainbows a bye into the second round of today’s championship bracket. SDSU will play Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne today at 10 a.m. in Peterson Gym.