UCLA
UC San Diego
Bruins Win in Three over UCSD
April 12, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 12 UCLA men's volleyball team celebrated Senior Night with a straight set win over UC San Diego on Saturday night in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the match were 26-24, 25-17, 25-18. UCLA is now 12-13 overall and 8-13 in the MPSF.
Seniors Clayton Paullin and Trent Kersten combined to hit over .750 on the night and help propel the Bruins to a season-high team hitting percentage of .436. Paullin had seven kills and hit .778, while Kersten had six kills and hit .750. Kersten added four block assists. Freshman J.T. Hatch topped the Bruins with 17 kills and 10 digs. Hatch and fellow freshman Jake Arnitz each recorded two service aces. Eric Matheis had 40 set assists.
There were 14 ties in set one of the match. UCLA moved out to a 7-5 lead after a kill from Mitch Stahl. UCSD came back to go ahead 8-9. Kersten tied it at 10-each with a kill. The score was then even at 14, 16, 18, 19, 23. A kill by Hatch on an off-speed shot pushed UCLA into a 24-23 edge. The Bruins then capitalized on a couple of Triton errors to take the set 26-24.
The Tritons surged to a 3-6 advantage in set two. UCLA evened things up at 7 on a block by Kersten and Christian Hessenauer. The Bruins went up 8-7 after Stahl registered an ace to mark the 11th straight match in which he has served at least one. The Bruins then extended the lead to 16-11 after a block by Stahl, Matheis and Hatch. UCSD closed to 17-14, but UCLA answered behind the serve of Michael Fisher and went on to a 25-17 win. UCLA out hit the Tritons .370 to -.143 in the set.
In set three, UCLA used some big swings from Paullin to take an 8-3 lead. UCSD narrowed the gap to 9-6, but Paullin came through with a kill to stop the visitor's run. Another Paullin kill made it 14-9 and UCLA owned a 17-10 lead following an ace by Fisher. The Bruins went on to take the set 25-18.
The Bruins will conclude the regular season next Friday with an MPSF match at Stanford as they continue their quest to finish as one of the top eight teams in the league and advance into the playoffs . The contest is slated for broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks at 7 p.m.
