Thursday, March 13
Costa Mesa, CA
7 p.m. PT
UCLA
13-3,3-0MPSF
3
at
0
Vanguard
6-10,1-4MPSF
1
2
3
F
UCLA
25
25
25
3
Vanguard
18
22
18
0
No. 2 UCLA Men's Volleyball Sweeps Vanguard, 3-0
March 13, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
Costa Mesa, Calif. – The No. 2 UCLA men's volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep of Vanguard University in an MPSF Conference match on Thursday evening in Costa Mesa. The win was UCLA's first ever win over Vanguard in the two squads' first ever meeting.
Sean Kelly led the way with 11 kills on 19 swings to pace the Bruins' offense on Thursday, and set a new career-high in kills in the process. Ido David added eight kills, and Zach Rama contributed five more kills to lead UCLA.
Defensively, the Bruins (13-3, 3-0 MPSF) limited the Lions (6-10, 1-4 MPSF) to .123 hitting, the lowest the Bruins have allowed a team to hit all season.
UCLA used a rotated starting lineup on Thursday, as Sean Kelly, Coleman McDonough, and Micah Wong Diallo all made their first starts of 2025, and Luca Curci also made his first appearance as an outside hitter, after playing the rest of the year to date at libero for UCLA.
Taliaferro provided 31 assists on Thursday, pacing the Bruins to a .338 attack percentage.
Wong Diallo made it a 4-4 tie in the first set when he served up UCLA's first ace of the night. UCLA would finish with seven total on the evening.
Later on in the opening set Kelly slammed home a kill to put the Bruins in front by four, 11-7. Kahale Clini then added another ace for the Bruins, and put UCLA up six points, 17-11, before David added another ace to give UCLA a seven point advantage, 20-13.
A few points later David ended the set with his fifth kill of the opening set, giving UCLA a 25-18 win and a 1-0 lead heading to the second set.
In the second set, the Bruins continued to put the pressure on Vanguard. Kelly wracked up another Bruin ace early on, putting UCLA up 2-1. Vanguard did not back down however, and took a three-point lead 10-13, forcing a UCLA timeout.
After the timeout the Bruins chipped away at the lead and Cameron Thorne tied things up with a kill, making it 17-17 midway through the set. Thorne then put the Bruins up two points, 21-19, with a monster block.
The Bruins then closed out the set, 25-22, courtesy of a pair of attack errors from the Lions, taking a 2-0 set lead to the third set.
In the third set, UCLA established control early on, and never looked back. Taliaferro and Wong Diallo combined for a block to give the Bruins a 3-0 advantage. McDonough added his second-career kill a few plays later to put UCLA up 10-7, before Kelly chalked up his 10th of the night to give the Bruins a 16-10 advantage.
Wong Diallo added his third kill of the evening to add to the Bruins total, and UCLA led 20-16 in the closing stages. A David Decker ace ended the match as the Bruins took the third set 25-18, and the match 3-0.
Up Next: UCLA hosts Vanguard Univeristy on Saturday, March 15, at 5 pm PT inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The match will also be streamed on B1G+.
Sean Kelly led the way with 11 kills on 19 swings to pace the Bruins' offense on Thursday, and set a new career-high in kills in the process. Ido David added eight kills, and Zach Rama contributed five more kills to lead UCLA.
Defensively, the Bruins (13-3, 3-0 MPSF) limited the Lions (6-10, 1-4 MPSF) to .123 hitting, the lowest the Bruins have allowed a team to hit all season.
UCLA used a rotated starting lineup on Thursday, as Sean Kelly, Coleman McDonough, and Micah Wong Diallo all made their first starts of 2025, and Luca Curci also made his first appearance as an outside hitter, after playing the rest of the year to date at libero for UCLA.
Taliaferro provided 31 assists on Thursday, pacing the Bruins to a .338 attack percentage.
Wong Diallo made it a 4-4 tie in the first set when he served up UCLA's first ace of the night. UCLA would finish with seven total on the evening.
Later on in the opening set Kelly slammed home a kill to put the Bruins in front by four, 11-7. Kahale Clini then added another ace for the Bruins, and put UCLA up six points, 17-11, before David added another ace to give UCLA a seven point advantage, 20-13.
A few points later David ended the set with his fifth kill of the opening set, giving UCLA a 25-18 win and a 1-0 lead heading to the second set.
In the second set, the Bruins continued to put the pressure on Vanguard. Kelly wracked up another Bruin ace early on, putting UCLA up 2-1. Vanguard did not back down however, and took a three-point lead 10-13, forcing a UCLA timeout.
After the timeout the Bruins chipped away at the lead and Cameron Thorne tied things up with a kill, making it 17-17 midway through the set. Thorne then put the Bruins up two points, 21-19, with a monster block.
The Bruins then closed out the set, 25-22, courtesy of a pair of attack errors from the Lions, taking a 2-0 set lead to the third set.
In the third set, UCLA established control early on, and never looked back. Taliaferro and Wong Diallo combined for a block to give the Bruins a 3-0 advantage. McDonough added his second-career kill a few plays later to put UCLA up 10-7, before Kelly chalked up his 10th of the night to give the Bruins a 16-10 advantage.
Wong Diallo added his third kill of the evening to add to the Bruins total, and UCLA led 20-16 in the closing stages. A David Decker ace ended the match as the Bruins took the third set 25-18, and the match 3-0.
Up Next: UCLA hosts Vanguard Univeristy on Saturday, March 15, at 5 pm PT inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The match will also be streamed on B1G+.
Team Stats
M-110
M-30263
Kills
37
23
Errors
12
16
Attempts
74
57
Hitting %
.338
.123
Points
52.5
30.0
Assists
34
22
Aces
7
2
Blocks
8.5
5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
11
Aces
2
Blocks
2
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's VolleyballOpp
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's VolleyballL
/ Men's VolleyballMB
/ Men's VolleyballMB
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