UCLA
Brigham Young
Bruins Fall in Four to #3 BYU
April 02, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
The top-ranked men's volleyball team had its eight match win streak snapped by No. 3 BYU in four sets on Friday night before a sell-out crowd in the John Wooden Center. Scores of the match were 17-25, 25-19, 25-27, 13-25. UCLA is now 21-4 and 14-4 in MPSF play which is good for a third-place tie with Long Beach State. BYU and Stanford are now tied for first place in the league with 16-3 marks. The Bruins will host BYU again on Saturday night in the Wooden Center. First serve is at 7:05 p.m.
UCLA totaled its second-lowest hitting percentage on the season, at .161 for the match, including a -.200 mark in the fourth set and a .176 in set one. BYU was just the third opponent this season to top the .300 hitting percetage mark as the Cougars managed to hit .337 for the match, swinging at a .562 level in set four. BYU also recorded the highest total blocks of any Bruin opponent this season with 16.0.
In set one, BYU jumped out to a 3-10 advantage after registering three straight aces. The Bruins narrowed the gap to 10-15, following a Cougar service error, and then climbed to within two at 14-16. However, BYU tallied four of the next five points to regain control and won 17-25.
In set two, UCLA moved to a 5-3 lead. BYU caught the Bruins at 6-all. Micah Ma'a helped lift the Bruins into a 10-7 lead with his second ace of the set. UCLA pulled away to an 18-11 lead following an ace from Jake Arnitz. Hagen Smith's kill ended the set with the Bruins up 25-19. Ma'a had three of five Bruin aces in the set and the team hit .400 for the set.
The third set was a grind-it-out affair. The score was tied at points eight through 15. BYU broke the tie with two straight points for a 15-17 edge. The Bruins evened things up at 20-all after an ace from JT Hatch. The score was then tied at 21, 22 and 23. Arnitz and Oliver Martin teammed up on a block to give UCLA a look at set point, at 24-23, but a service error leveled the score. The Cougars took the set, after a block, by a 25-27 count.
BYU enjoyed an early 5-8 lead in set four. UCLA closed to within one, at 7-8, after an Arnitz kill and a Cougar hitting error. The visitors then scored the next three points and went out to a 10-17 advantage. UCLA had no answers and BYU took the set 13-25, while hitting .562.
Arnitz, who had seven digs, led the Bruins with 11 kills (.238). Martin finished with seven kills (.500) and three block assists. Hatch, who had two aces, and Ma'a, who finished with three aces, rang up nine kills each. Smith totaled four kills, 17 set assists, seven digs and four block assists. Ma'a moved into a tie for fifth on the all-time Bruin season ace list with Paul Johnson (2005) with 49 on the year.
