UCLA
Stanford
MVB Trims No. 3 Stanford in Three Sets
April 08, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 4 UCLA men's volleyball team swept No. 3 Stanford in an MPSF match on Senior Night (Jake Reeves and John Zappia were recognized along with student trainer Marissa Meyer) played on Thursday evening in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the match were 27-25, 25-18, 25-22. The Bruins outhit the Cardinal .307 to .158 for the contest and improved their records to 22-5, 16-5 in MPSF action. Stanford fell to 19-4, 17-4 on the season.
JT Hatch led the way in set one with six of his match-high 15 kills. The Bruins held a 5-1 lead after an ace from Hagen Smith. Three straight Hatch kills made it 10-5 for the Bruins and another Hatch blast left UCLA in the lead at 12-6. The Cardinal then rallied to score five straight points to close to 12-11. Oliver Martin and Jake Arnitz combined on a block to widen the gap to 15-12. UCLA led 18-12 following two kills from Micah Ma'a, but had to fight off another Stanford rally. The Cardinal cut the margin to 22-20. Arnitz came through with a kill for a 23-20 advantage and UCLA moved to set point on a swing by Hatch at 24-21. However, three straight by the Cardinal evened the set at 24-all. A service error and a Ma'a block broke a 25-all tie and gave UCLA the set 27-25.
Stanford opened up a 6-2 lead to begin set two. UCLA came back to level the score at 8-all on a Mitch Stahl and Smith block. The lead went back and forth until UCLA grabbed a 16-15 edge on a Hatch kill. A Smith kill made it 21-17. Three kills by Arnitz down the stretch handed the Bruins the set at 25-18. The Cardinal hit -0.29 for the set.
In set three, UCLA broke out to a 6-3 lead after an ace by Arnitz. Stanford closed to 7-5, but that would be as close as they would get. The Bruins opened up a 14-6 advantage following a Stahl / Arnitz block. The Cardinal closed to 21-17 and 24-22, but a Hatch blast ended the match.
Hatch finished with 15 kills (.367), an ace and 10 digs. Arnitz totaled 12 kills (.276), an ace and five blocks. Smith had six kills (.556), 21 set assists, five digs and two blocks. Ma'a recorded six kills (.286), six digs and a pair of block solos. Davis Gillett tallied 12 digs, several on the spectacular side.
UCLA will host No. 6 Pepperdine on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. The program will honor three of the school's 19 NCAA Championship volleyball teams that night (1976, 1996, 2006). The last time the Bruins won at least 22 matches in a season was in 2012 (also 22) and the last time it won more than 22 matches was in 2006 when it captured 26 victories and a national title.
