UCLA
UC Santa Barbara
Bruins Taken Down by Gauchos 3-1
February 09, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 9, 2011
Los Angeles -
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The 5th ranked UCLA men's volleyball team could not overcome a slow start and fell to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos by a score of 3-1.
The Bruins have now lost four straight matches and are 2-5 in conference play and 7-6 overall. Meanwhile, the win put the Gauchos at 7-5 on the year and 5-4 in conference play. Game scores were 25-11, 25-23, 18-25, and 27-25.
UCLA got off to a very rough start as they allowed the Gauchos to hit .789 in the first set. UC Santa Barbara would go on to take that set 25-11 and then took the second set 25-23 to jump out to a 2-0 lead. The Bruins fought back in the third but it was simply too little, too late, as the Gauchos ended the match in four after erasing a 24-22 deficit in the 4th set.
Junior Kyle Caldwell led the Bruins with 16 kills on the night and contributed three block assists and four aces as well. Junior Thomas Amberg and freshman Robart Page recorded nine kills apiece while junior Nick Vogel led the team with five block assists in the loss.
Overall, the Bruins hit .343 as a team while Santa Barbara hit .409. UCLA also committed 22 service errors in the match as compared to just nine for the Gauchos. Jeff Menzel led Santa Barbara with 17 kills.
The two teams will face off again on Friday, February 11th at Robertson Gym in Santa Barbara. Gametime is slated for 7:00 p.m. PT and fans at home can follow the match live on gametracker.
