Saturday, April 21
Provo, UT
6:00 PM
UCLA
24-7, 9-3MPSF
1
at
3
Brigham Young
22-6, 10-2MPSF
1
2
3
4
F
UCLA
25
21
18
21
1
BYU
17
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA
MVB Falls in Four in Championship Match
April 21, 2018 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 2-seeded UCLA men's volleyball team was upended by top-seeded BYU in four sets in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship match held in Provo, Utah on Saturday night. Scores of the contest were 25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 21-25. The Cougars, now 22-6, earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship to be held at UCLA May 3-5. The Bruins, now 24-7 on the year, will await Sunday's NCAA bracket announcement to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the championship.
In set one, BYU grabbed the early lead at 4-7. UCLA battled back to even the score at 10-all on a Cougar error. The Bruins took control at 14-13 on a kill by Christian Hessenauer which sparked a 6-0 run. Daenan Gyimah was at the service line for the run which included a pair of aces. UCLA extended the margin to 21-15 after an Oliver Martin kill. Gyimah, Micah Ma'a and Arnitz teamed up for a block to send it to set point. A Ma'a/Gyimah block handed UCLA the first set at 25-17. The Bruins hit .348 to BYU's -.048 in the frame.
The Bruins went down 1-3 at the start of set two. Hessenauer's kill leveled the score at 4-all. The score was then even at points nine and ten. UCLA went up 13-11 thanks to a kill by Jake Arnitz. However, the Cougars answered with four straight points to make it 13-15. UCLA managed to tie it at 18-all after an Arnitz swing. The next three points went to the Cougars before another Arnitz kill broke the streak. A Gyimah block pulled UCLA to within one at 20-21, but BYU was able to put four straight points together for a 21-25 win. The Bruins hit .172 with six errors in the set.
In set three, UCLA jumped out to a 4-0 start. BYU caught the Bruins at 5-all. After a Missry kill it was tied at 9-all. BYU then strung five straight points together for a 9-14 advantage. The Bruins closed to four, at 12-16, following a Gyimah kill, but BYU heated up from the service line and pushed out to a 13-20 edge after a couple of aces. The Cougars went on to post an 18-25 win with a .333 hitting percentage. UCLA hit under .200 for the second straight set at .192.
BYU moved out to a 4-7 advantage in set four. UCLA closed to 7-9 and then to 10-12 after Gyimah won a joust. The Bruins could not pull even and trailed 15-17 after a block by Arnitz/Martin/Ma'a. After BYU went up 17-22, UCLA rallied to narrow the margin to 20-22 on a kill by Gyimah, an ace by Ma'a and a Cougar error. The Cougars then scored three of the next four points to take the match. BYU hit .310 for the set to .133 for the Bruins who totaled seven errors.
Arnitz led UCLA with 11 kills on the night. Hessenauer, who added nine digs, and Gyimah, who totaled five blocks, finished with 10 kills each. BYU outhit the Bruins .225 to .204 for the match and won the battle at the net with an opponent season-high of 11.5 total team blocks to 10.0. The home team out aced the Bruins 6-5, just the fourth time an opponent has done so this season. The .204 hitting percentage was UCLA's third-lowest of the season. Ma'a recorded two aces to mark his eighth straight match with an ace. The junior now has 54 on the season which is the fourth-best single-season total in school rally scoring history (since 2001). Gyimah now has 122 block assists on the season which is the fourth-most by a Bruin in the rally scoring era.
In addition to the MPSF winner, King (Conference Carolinas), Harvard (Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), Long Beach State (Big West) and two-time defending champion Ohio State (Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) also earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament today. Two at-large bids and the full NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship bracket will be announced on Sunday.
Team Stats
UCLA
BYU
Kills
42
41
Errors
20
18
Attempts
108
102
Hitting %
.204
.225
Points
57.0
58.5
Assists
37
39
Aces
5
6
Blocks
10.0
11.5
Game Leaders
Kills
11
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
10
Aces
2
Blocks
5
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
OH
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