Saturday, April 6
Los Angeles, CA
7:00 PM
UCLA
18-8, 8-4MPSF
2
at
3
USC
16-9, 7-5MPSF
1
2
3
4
5
F
UCLA
25
15
25
20
11
2
USC
19
25
14
25
15
3
Daenan Gyimah (16) led UCLA with 21 kills against USC.
Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA
MVB Goes Down in Five at USC
April 06, 2019 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 5 men's volleyball team completed the regular season at No. 6 USC on Saturday night by dropping a five-set decision at the Galen Center. Scores of the match were 25-19, 15-25, 25-14, 20-25, 11-15. UCLA finishes the regular season 18-8, 8-4 and will host a MPSF quarterfinal match on Apr. 13 at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
In set one, UCLA moved out to a 6-3 advantage after an ace from Micah Ma'a. A kill by Ma'a lifted the Bruins into an 11-7 edge. Ma'a followed up with career ace number 200 for a 14-9 lead. USC battled back to narrow the margin to 16-14. Daenan Gyimah provided an answer with a couple of kills to shift the momentum back to the blue side of the net at 18-15 and 19-16. Matt Younggren's kill pushed the lead to 23-18. Grant Maleski's spike ended the set at 25-19. UCLA hit .684 for the frame with no attack errors on 19 swings. Gyimah led UCLA with five kills.
USC took an early 2-5 lead to begin set two. The Bruins pulled even at 6-all after kills from Dylan Missry and Gyimah. The score was then tied at points 7, 8 and 9 before the Trojans ran off six straight for a 9-15 lead. Younggren stopped the streak with a couple of kills for 12-16. However, the Trojans ripped off seven of the next nine points to take control on the way to a 15-25 win. UCLA had six errors and hit .167 for the set. USC was at .375.
Ma'a sparked the Bruins at the start of set three with two kills and an ace to help stake the Bruins to a 4-0 lead. The advantage was extended to 11-4 after a Missry swing. The Bruins opened up the gap to 19-7 before USC closed to 20-12 and 22-14. A block by Younggren / Ma'a made it 24-14 and Maleski finished off USC with his third ace of the night at 25-14. UCLA hit .321 to .130 for the Trojans.
USC took early two-point leads of 5-7, 6-8 and 8-10 in set four. Gyimah's swing cut the margin to one at 9-10, but USC tallied four of the next five points for a 10-14 edge. Another Gyimah kill reduced the deficit to 14-16, but seven of the next nine points went to the Trojans who opened up a 16-23 margin. UCLA closed to 20-24 after a couple of Trojan errors, but USC captured the set 20-25. The Bruins had five attack errors and hit .192.
UCLA moved to a 3-2 lead to begin set five after back-to-back kills from Ma'a and Gyimah. A Ma'a putaway after a dig by Gyimah made it 6-4. Gyimah's swing lifted UCLA into a 7-5 advantage. USC leveled the score at 7-all after an ace rolled over the net. Gyimah's kill handed UCLA an 8-7 lead at the break. The Trojans came back with two straight to go up by one. Ma'a tied it up at nine-all with a smash. After Gyimah's 21st kill of the night evened the score at 10-each, USC tallied the next three to take a 10-13 lead. Ma'a then spiked one cross court to make it 11-13. A mishandled ball put USC up 11-14 and a kill off hands ended the match at 11-15.
With his three aces in tonight's match, Ma'a established a new school record (rally-scoring era) for aces in a season with a total of 60. Mark Williams holds the overall school mark with 63 aces in the 2000 season.
MPSF Tournament Update --- UCLA, the No. 2 seed, will host an MPSF Quarterfinal match on Saturday, Apr. 13 against No. 14 Concordia, the No. 7 seed, at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The winner of that match will advance to the MPSF semifinals on Apr. 18 hosted by Pepperdine which clinched the top seed with a 3-0 win Saturday over Concordia. Pepperdine will also host the MPSF championship match to be played on Apr. 20 in Firestone Fieldhouse. The MPSF tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA men's volleyball championship. The NCAA bracket and at-large selections will be announced on Apr. 21.
MPSF Tournament seeding – No. 1 Pepperdine, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 BYU, No. 6 Grand Canyon, No. 7 Concordia.
Quarterfinals Apr. 13 – Concordia at UCLA, Grand Canyon at USC, BYU at Stanford, Pepperdine bye
Semifinals at Pepperdine on Apr. 18
Semi #1 – Highest remaining seeds will play each other
Semi #2 – Lowest remaining seed will play Pepperdine
Championship – at Pepperdine on Apr. 20
In set one, UCLA moved out to a 6-3 advantage after an ace from Micah Ma'a. A kill by Ma'a lifted the Bruins into an 11-7 edge. Ma'a followed up with career ace number 200 for a 14-9 lead. USC battled back to narrow the margin to 16-14. Daenan Gyimah provided an answer with a couple of kills to shift the momentum back to the blue side of the net at 18-15 and 19-16. Matt Younggren's kill pushed the lead to 23-18. Grant Maleski's spike ended the set at 25-19. UCLA hit .684 for the frame with no attack errors on 19 swings. Gyimah led UCLA with five kills.
USC took an early 2-5 lead to begin set two. The Bruins pulled even at 6-all after kills from Dylan Missry and Gyimah. The score was then tied at points 7, 8 and 9 before the Trojans ran off six straight for a 9-15 lead. Younggren stopped the streak with a couple of kills for 12-16. However, the Trojans ripped off seven of the next nine points to take control on the way to a 15-25 win. UCLA had six errors and hit .167 for the set. USC was at .375.
Ma'a sparked the Bruins at the start of set three with two kills and an ace to help stake the Bruins to a 4-0 lead. The advantage was extended to 11-4 after a Missry swing. The Bruins opened up the gap to 19-7 before USC closed to 20-12 and 22-14. A block by Younggren / Ma'a made it 24-14 and Maleski finished off USC with his third ace of the night at 25-14. UCLA hit .321 to .130 for the Trojans.
USC took early two-point leads of 5-7, 6-8 and 8-10 in set four. Gyimah's swing cut the margin to one at 9-10, but USC tallied four of the next five points for a 10-14 edge. Another Gyimah kill reduced the deficit to 14-16, but seven of the next nine points went to the Trojans who opened up a 16-23 margin. UCLA closed to 20-24 after a couple of Trojan errors, but USC captured the set 20-25. The Bruins had five attack errors and hit .192.
UCLA moved to a 3-2 lead to begin set five after back-to-back kills from Ma'a and Gyimah. A Ma'a putaway after a dig by Gyimah made it 6-4. Gyimah's swing lifted UCLA into a 7-5 advantage. USC leveled the score at 7-all after an ace rolled over the net. Gyimah's kill handed UCLA an 8-7 lead at the break. The Trojans came back with two straight to go up by one. Ma'a tied it up at nine-all with a smash. After Gyimah's 21st kill of the night evened the score at 10-each, USC tallied the next three to take a 10-13 lead. Ma'a then spiked one cross court to make it 11-13. A mishandled ball put USC up 11-14 and a kill off hands ended the match at 11-15.
With his three aces in tonight's match, Ma'a established a new school record (rally-scoring era) for aces in a season with a total of 60. Mark Williams holds the overall school mark with 63 aces in the 2000 season.
MPSF Tournament Update --- UCLA, the No. 2 seed, will host an MPSF Quarterfinal match on Saturday, Apr. 13 against No. 14 Concordia, the No. 7 seed, at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The winner of that match will advance to the MPSF semifinals on Apr. 18 hosted by Pepperdine which clinched the top seed with a 3-0 win Saturday over Concordia. Pepperdine will also host the MPSF championship match to be played on Apr. 20 in Firestone Fieldhouse. The MPSF tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA men's volleyball championship. The NCAA bracket and at-large selections will be announced on Apr. 21.
MPSF Tournament seeding – No. 1 Pepperdine, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 BYU, No. 6 Grand Canyon, No. 7 Concordia.
Quarterfinals Apr. 13 – Concordia at UCLA, Grand Canyon at USC, BYU at Stanford, Pepperdine bye
Semifinals at Pepperdine on Apr. 18
Semi #1 – Highest remaining seeds will play each other
Semi #2 – Lowest remaining seed will play Pepperdine
Championship – at Pepperdine on Apr. 20
Team Stats
UCLA
USC
Kills
56
53
Errors
16
13
Attempts
117
112
Hitting %
.342
.357
Points
66.0
69.0
Assists
52
47
Aces
7
8
Blocks
3.0
8.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
21
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
18
Aces
3
Blocks
3
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
6
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Men's VolleyballS
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's VolleyballMB
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