UCLA
California Baptist
Bruins Win in Four at Cal Baptist
March 27, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
UCLA took down Cal Baptist in four sets in an MPSF match played on Thursday night in Riverside. Scores of the contest were 25-19, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23. UCLA is now 11-8 on the season and 7-8 in league action. Coach John Speraw came away with his 50th win as UCLA's head coach.
Mitch Stahl led the way for the Bruins with 11 kills and a .667 hitting percentage, both season-high marks. His 14.0 points was also a season high. Eric Sprague added nine kills, eight blocks and hit .400.He also totaled his first career block solo and his seven block assists were a career-high. J.T. Hatch recorded eight kills and season-high tying five blocks.
UCLA opened up a 6-3 lead in set one after a kill by Jake Arnitz. CBU rallied to even the score at 10 and then 12. An ace from Hatch ignited a three-point run by the Bruins for a 15-12 edge. CBU closed to 17-16, but UCLA pulled away for a 25-19 win. The Bruins outhit the Lancers .389 to .000.
In set two, UCLA moved out to a 3-1 lead. CBU came back to tie the score at 3-all. The Bruins spurted out to a 9-5 advantage on an ace by Eric Matheis. UCLA led 10-7, when another run pushed the margin out to 15-7. The Bruins led 18-9 after an ace from Hatch. A Christian Hessenauer ace made it 24-15 and a Sprague kill ended the set at 25-20. UCLA hit .409 for the set.
UCLA enjoyed leads of 5-3 and 9-6 in set three. The Lancers came back to tie the score at 9 and after a stretch of five straight points led 9-11. A Stahl ace made it 10-11, but CBU began to separate. The Lancers led 12-16 and 13-18 before taking the set 20-25 after hitting .360 and putting down five service aces.
In the fourth set, UCLA jumped in front 3-1 on a Sprague kill. The score was then tied from points 6 to 12. A Oliver Martin ace and a Sprague block lifted UCLA into a 14-12 lead. The score was then even from points 14 to 17. After a Stahl kill and a CBU attack error, UCLA led 19-17 and held on from there for a 25-23 verdict. Stahl's 11th kill ended the match.
UCLA will now prepare for a Saturday night match at USC in the Galen Center. The Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the match beginning at 7 p.m. The Bruins are home on Monday night at 7 p.m. against top-ranked Hawai'i.
