ROCKLIN, Calif. – The University of California, Merced men's volleyball team dropped its regular season finale to Jessup 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-16) on Tuesday night inside Warrior Arena. It was a nonconference match.

The Bobcats finish the regular season 8-12 overall and will enter next weekends California Pacific Conference Championships as the No. 2 seed with a 6-2 conference record.

Gannon Connors led UC Merced at Jessup with seven kills on a .357 hitting percentage to go along with two blocks.

Cody Evans recorded five kills in just one set, while Kaleb Cole added four kills and a dig.

Brayden Van Kuren turned in 13 assists across the final two sets. Toby Miller had five assists in the first frame.

Other notables include two blocks, one solo, from Brennan Taylor and a service ace each from Sebas Moreno and Jared Guglielmana.

Jessup outhit the Bobcats .459 to .113 and held an 11-2 advantage in service aces. Jessup's Carter Depue totaled 15 kills on a .650 hitting percentage.

After three early ties in the first set, Jessup put together a 5-1 run to create separation. The Bobcats trailed 19-13 later on but kept battling and scored five unanswered points to pull within one, 19-18 highlighted by a Moreno ace. However, Jessup responded with six straight points to take the first set 25-18.

UC Merced scored two of the first three points in set two, but were unable to recover from a 6-1 Jessup run shortly after and never regained the lead. The Bobcats trailed by six points at 16-10 and by ten points at 24-14.

The Bobcats were within two points at 12-10 in the third set before Jessup pulled away using a 7-2 run. Jessup's lead didn't dip below six points the rest of the night.

Jessup hit .667 in the second set and .444 in the third.

Up next, UC Merced will host Simpson University in the Cal Pac Tournament Championship Semifinals on Friday, April 11 at 5:00pm inside the Joseph Edward Gallo Gymnasium.