Thursday, January 30
Los Angeles, CA
7:00 PM

UCLA

4-3,0-0MPSF

1
vs
3

Princeton

3-4,2-0EIVA

1
2
3
4
F
Princeton
19
25
25
25
3
UCLA
25
22
22
23
1
Cole Pender
Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA

MVB Goes Down to Tigers in Four

January 30, 2020 | Men's Volleyball

The No. 8 UCLA men's volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to No. 13 Princeton (3-4) on Thursday night in the John Wooden Center. Scores of the match were 25-19, 22-25, 22-25, 23-25. The Bruins are now 4-3 on the season and will play next at No. 4-ranked and two-time defending champion Long Beach State (5-0) on Saturday night.
 
UCLA enjoyed a 5-2 lead in set one after an ace from Austin Matautia. Princeton evened the score at 9-all. The Bruins moved in front 15-12 after a block by Cole Ketrzynski/Matt Younggren and extended the gap to 18-13 on a Mads Kyed Jensen kill. A Matautia kill extended the lead to 21-15. A Tiger service error handed the first set to the Bruins at 25-19. UCLA hit .500 for the set with Ketrzynski totaling five kills.
 
The Bruins opened up another 5-2 lead to start set two. Princeton came back to level the score and went up 7-10 after tallying four straight points. UCLA never regained the lead and went down 14-19 before answering with kills by Kyed Jensen and Ketrzynski to go along with a block solo from Matautia to narrow the gap to 17-19. The Bruins sliced the margin to one, at 20-21, on a Grant Maleski/Matautia block before the Tigers closed out the set at 22-25. Neither team hit over .240 for the frame, but the Tigers added three aces.
 
Princeton came out strong in set three to go in front 4-7. UCLA used an ace from Matautia to tie the score at 10-all. The Tigers then rattled off three straight to break an 11-all tie and go up 11-14. UCLA closed to 17-18 after consecutive kills by Kyed Jensen. The Bruins pulled within one again at 18-19, 19-20 and 20-21, but could not break on top and Princeton held on for a 22-25 win. Both teams hit over .400 for the set.
 
In set four, Kevin Kobrine came off the bench to score a kill off hands to put UCLA up 5-4. The Bruins built the lead to 12-8 after another Kobrine kill. A pair of aces from Kobrine advanced UCLA into a 17-11 advantage. However, Princeton then answered with five straight points to get back in the set. Alex Knight delivered a kill and an ace to lift the Bruins into a 19-16 edge. The Tigers fought back again to level the score at 20-all. Matautia's kill tied the score at 22, but Princeton registered the final three points of the set to take the match. The Tigers outhit UCLA .500 to .231 in the final set.
 
Knight led UCLA with a career-best 15 kills (.419) to go with five digs. Matautia added 11 kills (.600), a couple of aces, and three blocks. Younggren tied his career-best with three aces and added three block assists. UCLA hit .361 for the match to .360 for the Tigers. The Bruins connected for nine aces to five for Princeton. UCLA totaled 7.0 blocks to 5.0 for the Tigers.
 

Team Stats

PU
UCLA
Kills
51
49
Errors
15
14
Attempts
100
97
Hitting %
.360
.361
Points
61
65
Assists
48
44
Aces
5
9
Blocks
5
7

Game Leaders

Kills
15
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
11
Aces
2
Blocks
3
Kills
10
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
1

Players Mentioned

S/Opp
/ Men's Volleyball
OH/Opp
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
Opp/OH
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
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