On Thursday evening No. 2 UCLA faced off No. 10 Stanford at home in Pauley Pavilion. After a loss in the first set, the Bruins gained their momentum and took out Stanford in the next three sets. The scores were: set 1: 25-23, set 2: 21-25, set 3: 21-25, set 4: 19-25. UCLA won 1-3.
The first set was very tight as both teams exchanged points and kept the score close right until the very end. The first timeout was called with the score at 11-7 with Stanford keeping the lead. Cameron Thorne got back to back kills to help the Bruins advance, but still behind Stanford. As both teams continued to score, another timeout was called with the score at 21-19, Stanford still leading. Score was at 24-21, with Stanford hoping to get their winning point. The Bruins continued to score, until Stanford finally got their point to win the set at 25-23. Cooper Robinson and Zach Rama both led the Bruins with five kills each.
The second set started off great for the Bruins as they won the first point. Stanford followed to bring the score to 1-1, but afterwards the Bruins maintained the lead until the very end. UCLA had the largest lead of the set at 3-8. They slowly started to lose their lead as Stanford seemed to start catching up and were now only behind the Bruins by one point at 15-16. Closer to the end of the set, however, the Bruins were back by up five at 18-23. Stanford tried to catch up, but ultimately the Bruins took the second set ending at 21-25. Rama was still leading the Bruins with nine kills and Robinson right behind with eight.
Early in the third set, a successful challenge was called to bring the score to 3-3. Quickly after UCLA got the lead at 3-6 with a scoring run of 4-0. The set was later tied again at 10-10. UCLA had a 3-0 scoring run later with the score at 15-18. The score became 15-19, but a successful challenge from Stanford was called to bring the score back to 15-18. Soon UCLA was at 19-24 and secured the set at 21-25. By the end of the third set, Rama was still leading the Bruins with 12 kills.
The fourth and final set of the night ended in a win for UCLA. Thorne got the first kill of the set to bring UCLA to 0-1. At 7-12, the Bruins had their largest lead of the set against Stanford. But Stanford quickly caught up to bring the score to 12-13. At this time Stanford had a 4-0 scoring run. UCLA was able to maintain their lead and win the set at 19-25. This brought the final score to 1-3. Robinson was the leader for the Bruins in kills with 16 kills. Rama finished right behind him with 15 and Ido David with 14.
UCLA and Stanford will face off again in Pauley Pavilion for the second night in a row.
