UCLA
Ohio State (Outrigger Tournament)
Bruins Fall in Three to Ohio State
January 18, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 18, 2006
The fifth-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team lost for the first time ever to Ohio State in the opening match of the 12th Annual Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu, HI.
The Buckeyes won 30-27, 32-30, 30-28 in one hour and 45 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center. Ninth-ranked Ohio State improved to 6-0 overall. The Bruins, who lost their third straight match and ninth consecutive game, fell to 2-3 overall.
The Bruins held leads late in each of the three games only to watch them disappear. In addition, UCLA's serving and blocking were non-factors. The Bruins were out-blocked 9.0-3.0 and out-served, five aces to three.
In Game 1 UCLA scored six straight points to edge ahead 26-25 before Ohio State went on a 5-1 run to win the game. The Bruins committed two service errors during the Buckeyes' run. In the first game they committed eight service errors and recorded just one block.
In Game 2 the Bruins rallied from a three-point deficit to move ahead 27-26 after a kill by freshman Sean O'Malley. UCLA had one swing to win it at 30-29 but OSU's Stuart Katz tooled the Bruin block to tie it. UCLA was then called for four hits and lost the game when OSU's Mark Greaves took advantage of an overpass on the serve.
The Bruins held a 25-23 lead in Game 3 before the Buckeyes sprang to life. An OSU kill by John Albertson and an ace by Dan Meske knotted the score. The Bruins called timeout after O'Malley committed a hitting error to give the Buckeyes a one-point lead. A kill by UCLA's Damien Scott tied the score at 26-26. The two teams traded points before O'Malley committed a service error giving OSU a 28-27 lead. A kill by Greaves gave the Buckeyes a two-point cushion, and after a block by Scott and senior Nick Scheftic narrowed the lead to one, OSU's Katz tooled the UCLA block for the final point.
"We need to play more aggressively," said Head Coach Al Scates. "Right now, we're playing very tentative and our opponents can see that."
The victory was Ohio State's first in 14 matches against the Bruins.
Scott led UCLA with 14 kills, but hit just .265. Senior David Russell, playing in place of injured Jamie Diefenbach, added eight kills (.636). Junior Beau Peters came off the bench and added four kills in five attempts. Senior setter Dennis Gonzalez added four kills, 38 assists, eight digs and one block assist. Libero Tony Ker recorded 11 digs, but was replaced by sophomore Eric Chaghouri in Game 3.
Greaves led Ohio State with 14 kills (.321) and Katz added 13. Sophomore Brett Verson led OSU with five total blocks and added seven kills (.412).
On Thursday, the Bruins meet No. 11 Penn State at 4 p.m. HST.
