UCLA
Long Beach State
Volleyball Drops Conference Match to Long Beach
January 15, 2013 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 15, 2013
The fifth-ranked UCLA men's volleyball returned to MPSF action on Tuesday night in Pauley Pavilion and dropped a four-set match to ninth-ranked Long Beach State. Scores of the match were 25-23, 25-22, 16-25 and 25-17 for the Beach, which evened its conference mark at 1-1 and improved its overall record to 3-2. UCLA saw its MPSF record squared at 1-1 and its overall record is 5-3 on the season.
In set 1, UCLA jumped out to a 3-1 advantage only to see the score tied at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11 and 12. Long Beach State then scored three straight points to force a Bruin timeout. UCLA closed to 19-17 on Robart Page's kill. Gonzalo Quiroga made it 23-21 with a spike and 23-22 on a block by Spencer Rowe and Michael Beals. A Long Beach kill was good for a 24-22 lead and a Quiroga blast narrowed the margin to 24-23, but the visitors scored the final point of the set.
In set 2, Long Beach State dominated from the start and held on at the end. UCLA called timeout with the 49ers up 9-4. A Quiroga kill made it 9-5 after the break, but Long Beach soon pulled away to a 13-8 advantage. The visitors led 19-12 after a Bruin service error. A couple of kills and an ace by Quiroga made it 22-16 and a Rowe block made it 22-17. Long Beach responded by running the margin out to 24-18. A kill from Page, a LBSU hitting error and a kill by Kendall Partie made it 24-21. Another attack error by Long Beach made it 24-22, but a mishandled ball by the Bruins gave the 49ers the decisive point in the set.
In set 3, UCLA stormed out to a 7-3 lead and soon grew the margin to 12-5. A Beals ace made it 21-12 and UCLA captured its first set of the match on a Page tip. Jonathan Bridgeman came off the bench in the set to provide the Bruins a lift.
In set 4, Long Beach opened up a 5-2 lead and led 9-6 before a Page kill narrowed the gap to two points. It was a 10-8 Long Beach advantage after a Quiroga spike. The Bruins cut the lead to one on a block by Beals and Trent Kersten. However Long Beach registered the next four points in the set, despite a couple of Bruin timeouts. A kill by Kersten made it 16-12. The teams traded points from there with Long Beach State pulling away at the end for the 25-17 win.
Page led UCLA with a match-high 21 kills. Quiroga finished with 14 kills and added three aces and two block assists. Rowe totaled four block assists. Beals handed out 38 set assists. Evan Mottram had 12 digs and three assists.
The Bruins will now take to the road for three-straight conference matches. The first opponent on the list is UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 7 p.m. The next Bruin home match is set for Jan. 29 against UC Irvine.
