| Men’s Volleyball |
|---|
| UCLA — 3 |
| UCSB — 0 |
The nation’s No. 1 ranked men’s volleyball team, the UCLA Bruins (13-0, 3-0 MPSF), had to muster up everything they had to catch up to the No. 12 UCSB Gauchos (8-6, 0-0 Big West) in every single set, stealing the win in three sets. Tonight, the Bruins topped the leaderboard in both kills by senior outside hitter Zach Rama and digs by redshirt junior libero Christopher Connelly.
Tonight, at the UCSB Thunderdome Events Center, the Bruins took on the Gauchos and won in three sets, all by narrow margins that may have very well resulted in a fourth and fifth set taking place.
The first set consisted of the Gauchos capitalizing on the Bruins’ errors in addition to adding points from offensive attacks of their own. UCSB maintained its lead in the first half of the game. Down two points at 14-12, the Bruins called for a time-out to recoup and strategize. An insane triple block from UCSB’s offense, resulting in an attack error on redshirt junior opposite hitter David Decker’s behalf, tied up the game 16-16. Fortunately, Decker was able to redeem himself immediately in the next play with a kill, thanks to an assisted set from senior setter Andrew Rowan. The Bruins kicked into high gear with both their defense and offense, and Rama wrapped up the set at 25-23, getting two kills back-to-back to keep the Gauchos from reaching set point.
Unable to receive the serve, the Bruins forfeited the first point to the Gauchos in the second set. Down 0-2, Rama took the first kill to put the Bruins on the board. Regardless, the Gauchos stayed relentless with successful blocks and attacks of their own, maintaining a three-point lead. The teams began to mirror each other’s plays, errors and successes. When one team made a service error, the other team followed. With Rowan’s help, sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly completed two consecutive kills and an ace, putting the Bruins only one point behind the Gauchos. Naturally, the Gauchos called a timeout to put a stop to his warpath. This ended up backfiring, as Rama took the next few points to give the Bruins the lead they needed. Both teams eventually tied up at 24-24 and went back and forth in set points, until an attack error by UCSB and a service ace by the Bruins finally wrapped up the second set 28-26.
Once again, to the Bruins’ dismay, the Gauchos took the first point in the third and final set, but Rama didn’t let them create a gap. Despite being down two sets, the Gauchos refused to give up their attempt to achieve a reverse sweep, while the Bruins continued to pursue an undefeated record. Tied at 8-8 with attacks coming from both sides of the net, UCSB was only two points into their scoring run when Rama put an end to it. Kelly kept the score pushing with two more aces, one coming after UCSB self-sabotaged themselves by being out of rotation. It wasn’t until Rama’s successful attack, which put the Bruins up by four points, that the Gauchos finally called a timeout. UCSB came blazing back onto the court and, with a few kills, halved the gap the Bruins fought so hard to create. Soon enough, the game was tied once again. Unsurprisingly, both teams took the game into the 24s, 26s, and 28s, alternating between which team took match points. Eventually, the Bruins wrapped up the game with an ace by Decker after a service error by the Gauchos, ending the final set at 32-30.
Up next, the Bruins will take on the No. 4 UCI Anteaters in Irvine this Friday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. PST.
