With Cooper Robinson and Sean Kelly at the helm, the Bruins braved the storm and conquered the Waves in three sets to secure a win at home in Pauley Pavilion (25-22, 25-23, 25-22).
The reigning national champions outperformed their opponents at the net right from the jump, acquiring an overall hitting percentage of .418 to best Pepperdine’s .356. The Bruins notched 4.5 total blocks, more than double that of the Malibu-faring team’s two.
Redshirt junior outside hitter Robinson led the charge, reprising his role as UCLA’s highest scoring player and ending the night with three service aces and 16 total kills.
His efforts were championed by Kelly, a freshman and fellow outside hitter, who rose to the occasion and found himself at the heart of many crucial plays. He accrued an ace of his own to elevate the team total to eight, and contributed two blocks and eight kills, one of which sealed the victory in the third set.
The performance from UCLA’s pin hitter pairing propelled the team to their eighth sweep of the season, but the victory was not earned without struggle.
Early errors on both sides of the net were indicative of the uphill battle that was to come as Pepperdine stumbled at the service line and UCLA floundered defensively against strategic targeting of the middle third of the court. Head coaches John Hawks and Jonathan Winder traded timeouts and challenges on service validity –both going in the former’s favor – whilst their players traded points. The Waves managed to obtain the lead for a short period, but failed to slow the Bruins’ momentum. Kelly and redshirt junior middle blocker Matthew Edwards teamed up to close the first set with a block.
UCLA’s defensive struggles prevailed in the second set: Hawks was forced to call a timeout at a score of 3-7 after back-to-back kills courtesy of Pepperdine’s freshman Cole Hartke and graduate George Dyer. The opportunity to reset proved beneficial, and this time, it was senior outside hitter/opposite Ido David who stepped in to stop the bleeding with a resounding kill and an ace, yet another testament to the weight of performance at the service line in Thursday night’s Top 10 match-up. The team continued to wrestle with errors, but two more aces from David and Kelly, a triple-block, and a handful of Robinson kills secured the second set for the Bruins after a wobbly start.
The final set seemed to be, despite the preceding challenges, mostly smooth sailing. UCLA came out swinging, starting things off at 5-1 and maintaining a steady lead from there on out, give or take a few defensive hiccups. Pepperdine crawled back towards the end thanks to Dyer and Ryan Barnett, but junior middle blocker Cameron Thorne contributed a kill to reach set point and Kelly ended the game with a kill of his own, marking an undisputed victory for the Bruins.
That said, there are many things to improve upon as the second match-up approaches. The team struggled to find an answer for Hartke, and standout junior setter Andrew Rowan made the list of dig leaders, matching Robinson’s seven pick-ups and outdoing both liberos, meaning UCLA was forced out of system on more than a handful of occasions.
The Bruins have less than 48 hours to iron out the kinks before they face the Waves again at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu on Saturday evening.
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Featured Image Photographed by Amy Miranda/BruinLife
