MVB Falls in Five at Stanford

Saturday, March 16

Stanford, CA

7:30 PM

UCLA

16-6, 6-2MPSF

Stanford

14-8, 5-4MPSF

UCLA

Stanford

Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA

MVB Falls in Five at Stanford

March 16, 2019 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (pdf)

The No. 4 UCLA men's volleyball team fell in five sets at No. 8 Stanford in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contest played in Maples Pavilion on Saturday night. Scores were 25-23, 21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 10-15. Brandon Rattray led the UCLA attack with a career-best 24 kills. The Bruins' record is now 16-6 overall and 6-2 in MPSF action. UCLA remained in first place in the MPSF after BYU (6-3) defeated Pepperdine (5-3) in Provo this evening. The Bruins will break for exams and then return to the court on Mar. 27 with an MPSF match at No. 6 Pepperdine.

In the first set, UCLA grabbed the early lead at 8-4 following a kill by Rattray and a block by Grant Maleski / Sam Kobrine. The Bruins extended the margin to 11-6 on a swing by Rattray. Stanford battled back to close to 13-11 on an ace. The Cardinal kept the momentum and tied the score at 17-all. Another Rattray kill made it 18-all. Stanford then went up 20-22. UCLA fought back to even the score at 22's and then 23's. Maleski put the Bruins up by one and a triple block by Kobrine / Micah Ma'a / Maleski provided the set winner at 25-23. UCLA hit .304 for the set with Rattray totaling eight kills.

Stanford took a 3-5 lead to begin set two. A Rattray ace evened the score at 5-each. The score was then tied at points seven through 20. Stanford went up 20-22 after a couple of Bruin errors. Back-to-back Cardinal blocks extended the margin to 20-24 on the way to a 21-25 win. UCLA hit .222 for the frame to .429 by Stanford.

The Cardinal went up 4-8 in set three. UCLA answered with three straight to make it 7-8. The Cardinal scored five of the next six points to take an 8-13 lead. Stanford kept the pressure on and expanded the margin to 13-21. UCLA rallied down the stretch, but the Cardinal prevailed 19-25. UCLA hit .129 with just eight kills in the set. The Cardinal registered a .464 attack percentage.

UCLA started strong in set four moving to a 7-4 lead. Stanford evened the score at 9-all. The Bruins came back to go up 16-13 after three straight points on a Ma'a kill, a Gyimah/Ian Eschenberg block and a Ma'a ace. The Bruins lead was 18-14 after a Maleski /Eschenberg block. The Cardinal tied it up at 22-all. With the Bruins down 22-23, Gyimah evened the score at 23 on a kill. Ma'a put UCLA ahead with another ace and a Gyimah block clinched the set. Both teams hit in the .400's for the set.

The Cardinal went out to a 1-4 advantage to begin set five. A Gyimah kill cut the gap to 3-6. A pair of Rattray swings made it 4-7 and then 6-9. Another Gyimah kill put the deficit at 8-11, but Stanford answered with the next two points. Kills by Rattray and Ma'a brought the gap back to three at 10-13. Stanford closed out the match with a kill and a block for a 10-15 win. The Cardinal hit .706 for the frame with no errors in 17 attempts.

Ma'a finished with five aces on the night to mark the ninth time this season he has recorded at least three in a match. The aces lifted Ma'a to within five of becoming the all-time ace leader at UCLA for a career (Gonzalo Quiroga, 2011-14 is current record-holder at 194). Rattray, with 24 kills, bettered his previous high of 21 set earlier this season at UCSD and hit .486 for the match.

UCLA hit .274 for the match as a team. Stanford recorded a Bruin opponent season-high attack percentage of .430. UCLA won the ace battle at 7 to 3. The Cardinal out blocked the Bruins 10.0 to 7.5.