UCLA
Long Beach State
Volleyball Downed by Long Beach State
February 05, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
The ninth-ranked men's volleyball team dropped a four-set decision on Wednesday night at No. 11 Long Beach State. Scores of the MPSF match were 25-17, 20-25, 22-25, 23-25.
Jake Arnitz tallied 14 kills and hit .344, while J.T. Hatch connected for 13 kills but it was not enough for the Bruins to overcome the 49ers in Walter Pyramid. The Bruins hit .226 for the match to Long Beach's .184 and outblocked the host team 12.5 to 8.0. However, UCLA, the nation's leader in service aces per set, managed just two aces on the night.
After several early ties, UCLA broke out to a 9-6 lead on a kill by Arnitz. Back-to-back kills by Hatch and Arnitz handed the Bruins a 17-10 advantage. Long Beach closed to 21-16, but consecutive kills by Arnitz handed UCLA the first set 25-17.
In set two, UCLA fell behind 6-11 before moving to 8-11 following a Hatch kill. The 49ers then began to separate, taking a 15-20 lead before posting a 20-25 win to even the match.
Set three was tied early and often. UCLA grabbed a 10-8 lead after a kill from Hatch. The Beach came back to level the score at 10, 12, and 14 before taking a 14-16 edge which prompted a Bruin timeout. UCLA battled back to tie the score at 16, but Long Beach recorded the next two points. UCLA moved to within one at 19-20, but the 49ers answered for a 20-24 lead and held on for a 22-25 win.
UCLA went down early by scores of 3-6, 6-9 and 9-14. A block by Mitch Stahl and Arnitz narrowed the gap to 15-17. A kill by Stahl and an attack error made it 17-18, but the Bruins could not grab the lead. Long Beach held on to a one point lead at 18-19 and 19-20 before taking a 19-22 advantage. UCLA used the attack of Arnitz to climb into a 23-23 tie only to see Long Beach score the final two points of the set and take the match.
Stahl and Hatch each finished with five blocks on the night. Jackson Bantle added nine digs. Eric Matheis was credited with 40 set assists.
UCLA, now 5-4 overall and 1-4 in league play, returns to action on Friday with an MPSF match at Cal State Northridge.
