UCLA
10-4, 7-3MPSF
Pepperdine
5-4, 3-3MPSF
MVB Takes the 5th to Win at Pepperdine
February 11, 2017 | Men's Volleyball
No. 4-ranked UCLA rallied to take the final two sets in a five-set MPSF win at No. 9 Pepperdine on Saturday night. Scores of the match were 23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-7. JT Hatch registered 24 kills, hit .340 and totaled a career best 16 digs to lead the Bruin attack. UCLA is now 10-4 overall and 7-3 in league play. The Bruins will host No. 13 CSUN on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins used a trio of three-point runs to move out to a 10-3 advantage in set five. Mitch Stahl provided some of the early firepower in the set with a couple of kills and an ace. Hatch tallied an ace and kills for points 13 and 15. Dylan Missry's ace pushed the Bruins to match point. The Bruins outhit the Waves .600 to .235 for the set.
In set four, the Bruins went down 16-17 before Oliver Martin entered the match and promptly evened the score at 17-all, after teaming with Micah Ma'a on a block. A Martin kill handed UCLA a 23-21 lead. Pepperdine closed to one at 23-22 and 24-23, but a Ma'a swing gave the Bruins the set.
In set three, Pepperdine broke open a close set with a mini-run for a 15-17 lead. The Waves pushed the margin to 18-22 and then to 21-24 before taking a 21-25 win. UCLA hit just .094 for the set, with eight errors.
The Bruins opened up leads of 8-5 and 12-8 in set two. Pepperdine closed to 16-13, but UCLA broke away to lead 21-15 after a Hatch kill. Another Hatch blast made it 23-16 and the Bruins took the set after a service error.
UCLA jumped to an 11-7 edge in set one. The Waves slowly chipped away at that gap and closed to 15-14. UCLA held on to the lead until Pepperdine evened the score at 21-all. The Waves then grabbed the lead for good on a couple of Bruin errors and won the set 23-25.
Hatch's total of 24 kills was one shy of his career-best of 25 set at USC in 2015. Stahl finished with a season-best 11 kills (.611) and had five blocks to move past Scott Morrow into third place on the all-time school block assist and total blocks lists. Ma'a and Missry totaled eight kills each, with Ma'a adding five blocks. Jackson Bantle recorded 11 digs. Pepperdine won the blocking battle, with an opponent's season-high total of 17.0 to 11.5 for the Bruins. UCLA had five aces to three for the Waves. The Bruins hit .252 for the match to .209 for Pepperdine.
