University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Hawai'i
Bruin Lose Five-Set Battle to No. 1 Hawai'i
March 31, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
The UCLA men's volleyball team lost a five-set decision to No. 1 Hawai'i on Monday night in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the contest were 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 19-25, 8-15. UCLA is now 11-10 overall and 7-10 in the MPSF. Hawai'i won its 11th straight match. The same two teams will battle on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
Trent Kersten had a career-high 11 kills in the contest, hitting .409. Jake Arnitz, with a team-best 13 kills, and Mitch Stahl, with 11 kills, were also in double digits. Hawai'i rebounded from sub-.200 hitting percentage in the first two sets to swing at a .311 rate for the match. UCLA hit .164 for the contest.
In set one, UCLA broke an 8-all tie after a service error, hitting error and an Arnitz kill to take a 11-8 advantage. Hawai'i tied it up at 11 and then went ahead 12-13. UCLA came back to move in front 16-14 on a Kersten kill. The Bruins went up 21-17 after a UH service error and took a 25-22 win on a J.T. Hatch kill. Hawai'i hit just .115 in the set. Arnitz and Mitch Stahl had four kills each.
Set two was even at 7-all and again at 10. UH then jumped out to a 11-14 margin. A Stahl kill narrowed the gap to 12-14 and UCLA tied the set at 15-all on a kill by Christian Hessenauer. The Bruins tied the score at 17, on an Arnitz swing, and at 19, on a kill by Hatch. The Bruins moved ahead 21-20 after a joust win by Stahl and captured the set on another kill by Stahl, 25-23. UH hit .161 in the set.
Hawai'i changed setters for set three and the team rallied behind the move. The Warriors took a 7-11 advantage and were still ahead 13-18 before an Arnitz kill cut the margin to 14-18. UH then scored the next three points and went on to win the set 16-25, hitting .619. UCLA hit .033 in the set.
UCLA got things going again in set four and established a 10-6 lead. Hawai'i scored the next three points and moved to within one on four occasions before tying the score at 14 following a long rally. The visitors grabbed the lead at 14-15 and never gave it back in a 19-25 set win. Hawai'i hit .333 to the Bruins .214.
In the deciding set, Hawai'i recorded kills on four of their first nine attacks for a 1-4 lead. UCLA closed to 4-6 after a Hessenauer kill and a UH hitting error. The next three points went to UH. The Warriors had kills on nine of their first 15 swings for a 5-11 edge. Back-to back kills by Stahl and Arnitz made it 7-13. Hessenauer, Stahl and Arnitz combined on a block to make it 8-13. However, Hawai'i registered the next two points for the comeback win.
