The top-ranked men's volleyball rallied back, after dropping the first two sets of the match, to deal #2 Long Beach State a 3-2 defeat on Wednesday night in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the contest were 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13.The Bruins improved to 9-0 on the season matching their best start since the 2000 team also started with nine straight victories.
Freshman Micah Ma'a floated a serve to an opening in the 49ers defense to terminate the match with an ace. He finished with a career-high 13 kills, including several crucial points, on the night. Sophomore Jake Arnitz blasted 17 kills at a .429 hitting percentage and added a career-best 13 digs.
The Bruins led most of the way in the first two sets only to see Long Beach come on strong and rally from a 19-22 deficit in set one and a 12-15 deficit in set two to go up 2-0 in the match. The 49ers hit .290 and .314 in those first two sets, but cooled off considerably as the match went on.
In set three, UCLA opened up a 12-8 lead after JT Hatch's back row attack. A Hatch block made it 15-10 Bruins and forced Long Beach to call timeout. The 49ers came back to get within two at 19-17 only to see Ma'a and Arnitz blast away down the stretch to lift the Bruins to a 25-19 win. Long Beach hit just .028 in the set with nine kills and eight errors.
Set four was even at 13 and then at 15 before an ace from Hatch and a kill by Ma'a put the Bruins up 17-15. It was a lead they would not surrender and another Hatch kill ended the set at 25-22 for UCLA.
Set five was even at seven when a kill by Oliver Martin sent UCLA ahead at the court change. Long Beach tied it up at points 8 and 9, but a 49er service error lifted the Bruins into a 10-9 edge. Mitch Stahl put away an overpass for a 11-9 advantage and UCLA led 12-9 afer an ace from Hatch. Long Beach came all the way back to even the score at 13 forcing a Bruin timeout. Arnitz' kill gave UCLA the lead at 14-13 and a Ma'a ace kept UCLA's record perfect on the season.
Stahl finished with eight kills and five block assists. Hatch had nine kills, a pair of aces and 12 digs. Hagen Smith set 25 balls and added 11 digs, nine kills and a block solo. Davis Gillett finished with eight digs. The Bruins hit .242 for the match to .219 for Long Beach and UCLA won the battle of the block 8.5 to 5.5.
The Bruins will be back in action on Friday night at 7 p.m. against #12 Cal State Northridge (7-1) in Pauley Pavilion. Tickets will be available at the door.