THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Regis (Mass.) men's volleyball team had a rough start to its west coast trip, falling in straight sets to UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz Friday in the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational at Gilbert Arena.

Set scores against UC Merced were 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-14, 25-18, 25-22 versus UC Santa Cruz.

Sean Bisnett (Oxnard, Calif.) provided the offense for the Pride (9-9), drilling a team-high nine kills but hit just .172 for the match. As a team, Regis hit .154 compared to UC Merced's .337 clip. Christopher Fitta (Warwick, R.I.) had a team-high six digs.

Jacob Shelton (Clovis, Calif.) delivered a match-best 11 kills for UC Merced with Matt Pelfini (Tiburon, Calif.) adding a match-high seven digs.

The Pride's best opportunity to gain some momentum came in the second set. Bisnett's kill put his team up 22-20 but UC Merced won five of the next six points to close out the set and take a 2-0 lead.

Against UC Santa Cruz, Bisnett was again the Pride's top hitter, equaling match-high honors with eight kills to go along with four digs. The Regis attack would again struggle hitting only. 087 for the match.

The Banana Slugs saw solid contributions from a handful of players led by Lake Merchen's (Clovis, Calif.)  eight kills and five digs. Kyle Donohoe (Victor, N.Y.) added seven kills and seven digs.

The Pride lost handily in the first two sets but rallied in set three before falling short. Bisnett's kill shaved a seven-point deficit down to two but Regis would get no closer as UC Santa Cruz sealed the sweep.

Regis continues the tournament with two more matches on Friday against Benedictine-Mesa (12:00 p.m. ET) and Cal Lutheran (2:30 p.m. PT).

#RegisMVB