UCLA
Long Beach State (Semifinal)
MVB Advances to MPSF Championship
April 22, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 2 seeded UCLA men's volleyball team swept into the MPSF Championship match after a 3-0 win over No. 3 seed Long Beach State on Thursday night in Provo, Utah. Scores of the semifinal win were 26-24, 28-26 and 25-19. UCLA, which fought off set points in each of the first two sets on Thursday, will meet top-seed BYU, the winner of the second semifinal match in five sets over No. 5 seed UC Santa Barbara, on Saturday night at 7 p.m. (MT) in Provo.
Saturday, Apr. 23 MPSF Championship UCLA at BYU – 7 p.m. MDT (6 PT)
UCLA at BYU live stats --- http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=131304
Streaming radio - http://www.byuradio.org/
Streaming video - http://www.byutv.org/
Live Television – BYUtv
Satellite Radio – Sirius XM 143
JT Hatch helped lead the Bruins to the win on Thursday with a match-high 14 kills (.429) and nine digs. Jake Arnitz added nine kills and eight digs. Micah Ma'a had eight kills (.667), 19 set assists and three blocks. His lone ace on the night moved him past Adam Naeve (2001) and Gonzalo Quiroga (2014) and to the top of the Bruin single season rally scoring era list with 57 aces.
Mitch Stahl totaled seven kills (.636), a couple of aces and three blocks. Hagen Smith recorded four kills, 16 set assists and a team-best four blocks. Oliver Martin had three blocks. Davis Gillett registered 10 digs, his seventh double-digit effort in the last 12 matches.
Six of Hatch's 14 kills came in set one. The Bruins had to rally from an early 2-6 deficit. Hatch sliced the margin to one at 10-11 with a kill. An Arnitz kill made it 12-13 and the Bruin tied the score at 15-all after an ace from Stahl. Long Beach surged back into a 16-18 edge. UCLA tied it at 18-each on a block from Martin and Ma'a and took the lead on an Arnitz kill at 19-18. The score was then even at points 19, 21, 22 and 23. A Smith kill saved one set point for the Bruins and leveled the score at 24. Hatch followed with a kill and UCLA took the set following a Smith / Martin block at 26-24.
Set two was tied early and often. A Hatch kill moved UCLA in front 7-6. The Bruins then stretched the margin to 12-8 after a couple of Ma'a kills and an ace from the freshman. The 49ers battled back to tie the score at 23-all and then took the lead at 24-25. Two straight attack errors sent the Bruins back in front at 26-25. A service error handed UCLA a 27-26 advantage and a net violation on a Michael Fisher swing gave the Bruins the set.
The Bruins stormed out to a 6-1 lead in set three. Long Beach State used a four-point rally to trim the margin to 14-9. Hatch answered with a kill to stop that run and UCLA moved back to a 20-12 lead following a kill by Stahl. The 49ers made one last run to close to 23-18, but one last Hatch kill lifted the Bruins to the set win at 25-19.
UCLA is now 25-5 on the season, the most wins for the program since the 2006 squad captured its most recent MPSF Championship on the way to winning the school's 19th NCAA title with its 26th victory. The Bruins hit .314 for the match to .250 for Long Beach. The 49ers out blocked UCLA 7.5 to 7.0, but the Bruins owned a 5 to 2 edge in service aces.
