UCLA
Stanford
Bruins Cut Down Stanford in Three
January 30, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
The ninth-ranked men's volleyball team defeated Stanford in straight sets to win their first MPSF match of the season Thursday night in the Wooden Center. Scores of the victory were 27-25, 25-22, 25-21. UCLA is now 5-3 overall and 1-3 in MPSF play.
The youngsters led the way for UCLA. Freshman Jake Arnitz slammed down 11 kills and three aces while fellow frosh Christian Hessenauer added 10 kills and hit .300. A third freshman J.T. Hatch recorded eight kills and five blocks. A fourth first-year player, Eric Matheis, came on to hand out 31 set assists and tally a couple of blocks. Sophomore Mitch Stahl served four aces and had three blocks.
The early stages of the first set see-sawed back and forth with each team taking brief leads. Stanford went up 11-15 before Stahl delivered a couple of service aces to help pull the Bruins to within one at 14-15. The Cardinal moved out to a 17-19 lead only to see UCLA come back to even it at 20-all on a kill by Hatch. The score was tied at 21, 22 and 23. The Cardinal had one set point, but a Trent Kersten kill evened the score at 24. After the visitors saved a set point, Arnitz blasted down a couple of balls to send the Bruins to a 27-25 win. There were 12 ties and six lead changes during the set.
UCLA owned a two-point advantage for most of the early going in set two. The Cardinal caught the Bruins at 13-all and went on to take a couple of one-point leads. A Hatch kill moved UCLA up into a 20-18 lead, but Stanford tied it at 21-all. Hessenauer answereed with a kill to give the Bruins the lead for good at 22-21 in a 25-22 win.
The Bruins jumped to an 8-3 lead in set three. The Cardinal closed to 9-7 and 15-13 but could not get even. The Bruins started to pull away and after an ace from Arnitz enjoyed a 18-13 cushion. Stahl's kill lifted the Bruins to a 19-15 edge. Hatch's ace made it 22-18 on the way to a 25-21 decision.
UCLA will now take the weekend off before returning to MPSF action on the road next week on Wednesday at No. 11 Long Beach State and on Friday at CS Northridge. The Bruins return home on Feb. 13 for a battle with No. 8 UC Santa Barbara in Pauley Pavilion.
