MVB Comeback Crashes Waves in Five Sets

Wednesday, February 27

Los Angeles, CA

7:00 PM

UCLA

13-4, 5-0

Pepperdine

11-3, 4-1

Pepperdine

UCLA

Austin Matautia's career-best 22 kills helped lead the Bruins to a comeback win over the Waves.

Photo by: Steph Burnham

MVB Comeback Crashes Waves in Five Sets

February 27, 2019 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (pdf)

The No. 6 UCLA men's volleyball team moved into sole possession of first-place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) standings with a come-from-behind win over No. 4 Pepperdine on Wednesday night in Pauley Pavilion, presented by Wescom. Scores of the match were 29-31, 17-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-9. Austin Matautia led the comeback with a career-best 22 kills, including nine in a momentum-swinging third set and six more in deciding fifth set.

UCLA enjoyed a couple of early two-point leads in the first set at 8-6, following a Daenan Gyimah kill, and 10-8, after an ace from Micah Ma'a. A block from Gyimah and Sam Kobrine extended the margin to 18-14. Pepperdine then rallied to even the set at 21-all on one of 7.0 team blocks in the frame. Each team had multiple set point opportunities down the stretch, but the Waves came through in the end for a 29-31 win. Pepperdine outhit the Bruins .344 to 212 for the set.

In set two, UCLA broke a 4-all tie with three straight points on a kill and a block by Matautia, followed by a Ma'a kill. Pepperdine came back to level the score at 7-all. The Waves then put together another run of five straight for a 9-13 edge. The Bruins never recovered and were unable to move closer than three points the balance of the set. UCLA hit .107, with nine errors in the set.

Neither team could separate in the early stages of set three. With the score tied at 11-all, UCLA ran off three straight on a Gyimah swing, a Matautia ace and a Wave error to open up a 14-11 gap. Pepperdine closed to 17-16, but could not pull even. Kills by Matautia provided points 20, 21 and 22 for the Bruins. UCLA went on to capture the set on a Wave error. The Bruins hit .565 in the frame.

UCLA fell behind 1-5 to begin set four, but pulled even at 8-all after a Brandon Rattray kill and a Wave error. The Bruins rode the serve of Ma'a to move in front by an 11-8 count. The Waves tallied the next point only to see the Bruins respond with three straight to claim a 14-9 lead. Pepperdine never moved closer than four points the rest of the way. Kobrine, Rattray and Matautia had three kills each in the set and UCLA hit .524 overall as a team.

UCLA spurted to a 4-1 advantage to start the final set after Grant Maleski and Rattray teamed up on a block to kick off the set. Pepperdine closed to 7-6, but Maleski's kill put the Bruins back in control. After Maleski and Matautia went back-to-back with kills, UCLA owned a 10-7 edge. A block by Gyimah and another kill from Matautia made it 12-7. Two more kills by Matautia provided points 13 and 15 and the win for the Bruins. UCLA hit .500 in the set, with six kills from Matautia.

In addition to his 22 kills, Matautia also added a career-high 11 digs. Sam Kobrine compiled a career-best 12 kills on the night. Cole Pender topped the Bruins with a career-best 12 digs. UCLA hit .352 for the match, after swinging at a combined .164 clip in the first two sets, to .248 for Pepperdine. The Bruins had five aces to four for the Waves. The visitors finished with a 13.0 to 10.5 edge in total blocks. UCLA will now travel to play an MPSF match at Grand Canyon on Friday night at 5 p.m. PT.