MVB Goes Down in Five to Long Beach

Saturday, February 29

Los Angeles, CA

5:00 PM

UCLA

Long Beach State

Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA

MVB Goes Down in Five to Long Beach

February 29, 2020 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score pdf Season Stats

The No. 12 UCLA men's volleyball team (8-8) dropped a five-set decision to No. 4 Long Beach State (9-1) in a non-league match played Saturday evening in the John Wooden Center. Scores of the match were 21-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 13-15. Freshman setter Mads Kyed Jensen led the Bruins with a career-high 14 kills (.370) and a career-high tying five aces.

UCLA jumped out to a 5-3 lead to begin set one. Long Beach came back to even the score at 6-all and then ran off three straight points to move in front 7-10. After UCLA closed to 12-14 on a Matt Younggren kill, the Beach put together another run for a 12-17 advantage. The Bruins rallied to 17-19 after a kill from Austin Matautia, but the next two points belonged to the visitors. A Chris Orem kill made it 20-23, before Long Beach closed out the set 21-25. UCLA had eight hitting errors and eight service errors in the frame.

Kyed Jensen sparked the Bruins by beginning set two with three straight aces, one shy of the school record mark. UCLA's lead improved to 7-4 after a block from Kyed Jensen / Younggren. Daenan Gyimah capped off a Bruin three-point run with a kill for a 12-7 lead. Alex Knight's kill and Sam Kobrine's ace widened the gap to 19-12. Kyed Jensen came back to finish off the Beach with his fourth ace of the set for a 25-16 win.

Long Beach opened up a 4-9 lead to start set three. UCLA closed to 10-11 after a kill from Gyimah. A Knight kill evened the score at 13-each, but the Bruins could not gain the lead. The Beach tallied three of the next four points for a 14-17 edge and went on to post a 17-25 win. UCLA totaled seven hitting errors in the set and hit .091.

Back-to-back aces by Matautia pushed UCLA into a 6-5 advantage in set four. A Gyimah swing kept the Bruins in front 13-10. After Long Beach closed to 13-12, UCLA responded with four of the next five points and held a 17-13 advantage after kills from Kobrine and Knight. The Beach then answered with four straight points to level the score at 21-all. Kills by Kyed Jensen, Matautia and then Gyimah each kept UCLA in front by one, before Knight's swing earned the set at 25-23. It was Knight's fourth kill of the set and send the Bruins into a fifth set for just the second time this season.

Long Beach broke out to a 3-6 lead to start the final set. UCLA battled back to get within one, at 9-10, on another ace from Kyed Jensen. J.R. Norris IV then hit off hands for a kill to keep the margin at one, 11-12. The next two points went to Long Beach and the Bruins fought off two match points on a Beach service error and a block by Kyed Jensen/Knight/Younggren before falling 13-15.

Long Beach out hit the Bruins .417 to .250 on the night. The Beach also enjoyed a 13.5 to 7.0 edge in total blocks. UCLA registered 11 aces to three for Long Beach. The Bruins will return to action on Tuesday night at No. 3 UC Santa Barbara before hosting CSUN on Thursday (7 p.m. in Pauley) and No. 6 UC San Diego on Saturday (5 p.m. in Pauley).