University Park, Pa. – Second-seeded UCLA (25-7) dropped a five-setter to third-seeded Ohio State University (30-3) in a national semifinal match on Thursday night at the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship held in Rec Hall at Penn State University. The Buckeyes defeated UCLA 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 18-16 to capture their 22nd consecutive win on the season and will move on the play BYU for the national title on Saturday.
Jake Arnitz led a balanced UCLA attack with 18 kills (.293). JT Hatch added 13 kills, two aces and 12 digs. Oliver Martin tied his career-high with 11 kills(.714) and recorded a career-best three block solos. Mitch Stahl also had 11 kills (.625) and four blocks. The Bruins out blocked the Buckeyes 12.0 to 8.0, out hit their opponent .339 to .266, but totaled 26 service errors. Ohio State recorded nine aces to five for the Bruins.
In the fifth set, the score was even at points one through four. An Arnitz cross court smash put UCLA in front 5-4 and a Hagen Smith block made it 6-4 for the Bruins. Martin's kill and a Buckeye error made it 8-5 at the break. An OSU kill and a Bruin attack error narrowed the margin to 8-7. Ohio State evened it at 9-all on a Bruin attack error and took the lead at 9-10 on a kill by Miles Johnson. The Bruins then called their second timeout of the set. A kill by Hatch tied the score at 10, but OSU scored three of the next four points to go up 11-13. A kill by Arnitz and a block by Stahl and Arnitz evened the score at 13-all. Stahl hit off hands for a 14-13 Bruin lead and Ohio State called its final timeout. OSU saved a match point and knotted the score at 14 on the setter's attack. Arnitz' cross court spike gave UCLA a 15-14 lead. OSU then went on to save two more match points and level the score at 16-all. A kill and a service ace ended the Bruins season with OSU on top 16-18.
In set one, UCLA took the lead at 7-6 after an Arnitz kill. The Bruins pushed the gap to 11-8 on a Martin kill. The Buckeyes caught up at 12-all and kept the momentum to go up 16-18. Stahl's kill narrowed the margin to 17-18 and his tough serve helped propel the Bruins into a 20-18 lead. OSU tied it at 21-all. A service error put UCLA back in front. Three kills by Micah Ma'a decided the set 25-22. Neither team hit well with the Bruins holding a .138 to 0.38 edge. OSU had four service aces to three for the Bruins. The blocking numbers were equal at 3.0.
In set two, the score was tied at points one through nine. OSU opened up a 10-12 lead. UCLA battled back to even things up at 13 on a kill by Stahl. The Buckeyes took two-point leads of 15-17, 16-18, 17-19 and 18-20. Hatch hit off hands to reduce the deficit to 19-20 and UCLA tied it up on a block by Ma'a, Stahl and Michael Fisher. The Bruins went ahead 21-20 on another block by that same trio. The score was then tied at 21 and 22. The Buckeyes used big swings to register the last three points and take the set 22-25. OSU took advantage of seven Bruin service errors in the set.
UCLA jumped out to a 4-1 advantage in set three only to see the Buckeyes battle back to go ahead 5-6. The Bruins went on top 8-7 after an OSU error. The score was then level at 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. OSU recorded the next four points to open up a 13-17 edge. A Hatch kill got one point back, but the Buckeyes went up 14-19. UCLA cut the margin to four on two occasions after kills by Martin, then Stahl. Swings from Arnitz saved a pair of set points, but the Buckeyes took the decision 21-25. OSU hit .545 and had an 80% sideout mark for the set.
In set four, UCLA moved to leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3 in the early going. The Bruins went ahead 8-4 after a Hatch kill and a couple of OSU errors forcing the Buckeyes to call a timeout. After Hagen Smith's kill put the Bruins up 9-4, the Buckeyes answered with three straight points. Stahl's middle attack stopped the run and made it 10-7 UCLA. Ohio State then ran off four of the next five points to tie the score at 11-all. A Martin kill and block solo pushed UCLA back in front 13-11. Another Martin kill made it 15-13 UCLA. Back-to-back kills by Stahl and Hatch lifted the Bruins to an 18-15 lead. Ma'a followed up with an ace for a 19-15 advantage. Stahl and Hatch went back-to-back for a second time as UCLA took a 21-16 lead. Arnitz' swing down the line made it 23-17. A service error handed UCLA a set point opportunity. The Buckeyes fought off two set points to close to within 24-20 and the Bruins called timeout. Martin pushed one through the Buckeye block to win the set 25-20. The Bruins hit .440 in the fourth set.
This was UCLA 26th NCAA Final Four appearance and its first since 2006. Top seed BYU (27-3 record) defeated fourth-seeded Long Beach State (24-8) in the night's first semifinal match 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-18).