UCLA
Brigham Young
Bruins MVB Goes Down in Four Sets
April 03, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
The top-ranked men's volleyball team was dealt a four-set defeat at the hands of No. 3 BYU on Saturday night before another sellout crowd in the John Wooden Center. Scores of the match were 25-20, 20-25, 18-25, 23-25. With the loss, UCLA drops into a third-place tie with Long Beach State in the MPSF standings with a 15-5 record. BYU and Stanford now sit tied for first-place with 17-3 league records entering the final week of the regular season.
JT Hatch led the Bruin attack with 15 kills (.385), four aces, eight digs and a pair of block assists. Six of his kills and two aces came in set one. UCLA moved out to a 4-1 lead to begin play. The Bruins pushed the margin to 11-7 on a Hatch blast. BYU came back to even the score at 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19. Hatch then ripped off a kill, teamed with Mitch Stahl on a block and added another kill to lift UCLA into a 22-19 lead. He ended the set with an ace for a 25-20 Bruin win.
UCLA scored the first two points of set two, but the Cougars came back to take a 5-6 lead. Neither team could separate until BYU put two points together for a 16-18 edge. UCLA closed to 19-20 after a kill by Jake Arnitz, but BYU put together a closing run for a 20-25 decision.
In set three, BYU fired off to a 0-5 lead. UCLA battled back to move within 11-14 on a block by Mitch Stahl and Hagen Smith. An ace from Hatch made it 14-15, but that was a close as the Bruins would come. The Cougars moved off to a 15-20 margin and an ace terminated the set for an 18-25 win. UCLA hit just .200 for the set.
In the fourth set, BYU made a run midway through for an 11-14 lead. UCLA closed to 13-15 after an ace by Micah Ma'a. The Cougars then stormed out to an 18-24 advantage. UCLA saved one match point on a Cougar service error to trail 19-24. Freshman Dylan Missry then entered the game and proceeded to help the Bruins save four more match points from the service line. A pair of kills by Christian Hessenauer made it 21-24 and a Missry ace pulled the Bruins to within 22-24. The Bruin block of Oliver Martin, Hessenauer and Michael Fisher made it 23-24, but BYU had the ultimate answer for the 23-25 win.
Ma'a joined Hatch in double digit kills with 10 (.529) and added three aces to go with a career best 14 digs and 24 set assists. Oliver Martin had five kills (.400) and three blocks. Stahl finished with seven kills (.364) and four blocks. Smith had 27 set assists, eight digs and a couple of blocks.
The Bruins will now finish out the regular season at home next week against Stanford on Thursday at 5 p.m. Seniors Jake Reeves and John Zappia will be recognized at that match. Pepperdine comes to Pauley on Saturday at 7 p.m. on a night during which UCLA will recognize its championship teams from 1976, 1996 and 2006.
