UCLA
Long Beach State
No. 2 MVB Sweeps No. 4 Long Beach
March 27, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 2 men's volleyball team captured its eighth straight win by registering a sweep at No. 4 Long Beach State on Saturday night. Scores of the match were 25-22, 25-22, 25-22. UCLA improves to 21-3 and 15-3 in MPSF play. The Bruins are tied for first place in the MPSF with Stanford and BYU.
Jake Arnitz led the way for UCLA with 16 kills while hitting .400. JT Hatch added 10 kills (.348) and Eric Sprague recorded a season-high eight kills (.800). Hagen Smith totaled eight digs, three blocks, an ace and 19 set assists. Davis Gillett had 11 digs. The Bruins outhit the 49ers .323 to .250 on the night.
Long Beach started strong in set one while taking a 2-5 lead. UCLA came back to even it at 7-all on a swing by Arnitz. The 49ers went back up by two before UCLA leveled the score at 12-all after a Sprague/ Smith block. A Sprague kill put UCLA up 15-13. Kills by Hatch lifted the Bruins into leads of 21-17 and 22-18. Sprague finished things up with a kill for a 25-22 win.
The Bruins went down by 1-3 and 4-6 in set two. Arnitz fired an ace to push UCLA in front 8-7. A couple of kills by Hatch and a Sprague/Smith block made it 12-9. Kills by Arnitz gave UCLA leads of 17-14 and 21-17. The 49ers closed to within one on three occasions down the stretch before a couple of errors did them in at the end for a 25-22 Bruin win.
Long Beach took a 3-6 lead to begin set three. Arnitz brought the Bruins even at 8-all with a kill. Smith served an ace for an 11-8 lead and the Bruins began to pull away. UCLA led 14-9 following a block by Oliver Martin, Micah Ma'a and Hatch. A Ma'a ace made it 18-12. The 49ers rallied to trail 21-18 and cut the gap to 23-21 on an ace. Hatch's kill answered for the Bruins and resulted in a 24-21 advantage. Long Beach saved one match point, but Arnitz' kill ended the match at 25-22.
The Bruins, who have won 10 of the last 11 matches, will host No. 3 BYU on Friday and Saturday nights this week in the Wooden Center.
