UCLA
Long Beach State
Bruins Go Down in Five vs. Long Beach
March 07, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
Ninth-ranked UCLA suffered a tough five set loss against the 10th-ranked Long Beach State 49ers on Friday night in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the contest were 25-20, 23-25, 25-27, 25-23, 11-15. Freshman J.T. Hatch led the offense with a career-high 23 kills and Jackson Bantle led the defense with a career-best tying 15 digs. UCLA is now 10-7 on the year and 6-7 in the MPSF.
The beginning of set one started out close with back-to-back action and tied scores. However, the Bruins began to break away after the score was tied at 10. Trent Kersten made some key blocks to help lift UCLA to a 14-11 advantage. Mitch Stahl's kill made it 21-15. Hatch hit off the block for 24-18 and Christian Hessenauer finished off the 49ers with a kill after a long rally for a 25-20 win. UCLA had 5.0 total blocks in the set and outhit Long Beach .282 to .118.
In set two, the score was tied at each point up to sevens. A couple of aces by Hessenauer gave the Bruins a 9-7 lead. Long Beach tied it up at 12-all and soon went up 13-16. UCLA used the play of Stahl and Jake Arnitz to climb back into a tie at 22. A Hagen Smith ace made it 23-22, but Long Beach scored the final three points of the set.
Set three again started off with back-and-forth scoring until it was tied at 7-all. A couple of Stahl kills and an ace helped lift UCLA into a 13-10 lead. However, Long Beach scored three straight to even the score at 21. A couple of Arnitz kills made it 24-23 and then tied the score at 25, but Long Beach had the answer down the stretch for a 25-27 decision.
Set four was even at each point up to eight. Long Beach registered the next three points for an 8-11 edge. UCLA tied it at 11 on a kill by Hessenauer. A block solo by Trent Kersten made it 16-15 Bruins. Stahl's ace moved UCLA to a 22-20 advantage. Hatch's kill and a 49er net violation helped to force a fifth set after a 25-23 Bruin win.
Long Beach jumped out to leads of 1-3 and 4-6 in the final set. A block by Smith and Stahl leveled the score at 6-all. Long Beach quickly reestablished a three-point margin for a 6-9 lead. UCLA cut it to 8-10 on a kill by Stahl. Hessenauer's kill made it 10-12. UCLA fended off one match point on a block by Hessenauer, Hatch and Kesten before falling 11-15.
Hatch became the first Bruin to surpass the 20-kill mark this season, while hitting .333. Hessenauer also finished with 20 kills, a career-best total, and hit .326. Smith registered 73 set assists on the night. Stahl finished with 10 kills, two aces and three block assits. Kersten had nine kills, a block solo and six block assists. UCLA received double-digit dig efforts from four players - Arnitz 10, Hessenauer 14, Smith 10, Bantle 15 - but could not overcome 25 service errors and 28 hitting errors.
The Bruins are back in action next Friday with a match at No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. The next home match is not until March 30, when the Bruins will host No. 6 Hawaii in Pauley Pavilion at 7 p.m.
