UCLA
Lewis
Bruins Fall in Five to Flyers
February 13, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 13, 2009
The 1,560 fans crowded into Neil Carey Arena in Romeoville, IL were treated to an exciting college volleyball show Friday night. Unfortunately for the visiting sixth-ranked UCLA Bruins, Friday the 13th turned into an unforgettable nightmare.
Fifteenth-ranked Lewis upset UCLA 22-30, 30-26, 30-26, 21-30, 15-10. The Flyers, who won their third straight, raised their record to 6-2 overall. UCLA, which saw its modest two-match winning streak snapped, fell to 6-6.
UCLA out-played Lewis in nearly every offensive category, but gave up 23 points on the service line with just four aces. Lewis served seven aces, including a pair in Game 5.
In the first set, the Bruins were brilliant. They buried the Flyers with a withering 10-2 run to end the game, as hometown players Sean O'Malley (Oak Park, IL) and Jack Polales (Winnetka, IL) hammered eight (.538) and five kills (.455), respectively. Freshman Thomas Amberg also recorded four kills in five attempts.
But things quickly unsettled after that as the Flyers won the next two sets to pin the Bruins to the wall, two games to one.
In the fourth set, the Bruins took an 11-7 lead after kills by sophomore Teddy Goetz and O'Malley. But the Flyers rocketed back with three straight points, forcing the Bruins to call their first timeout at 11-10. Lewis scored twice more to take a 12-11 lead before a pair of kills by Polales returned the advantage to UCLA, 13-12. The Flyers managed to tie it twice at 15 and 16, but the Bruins pulled away with a 3-0 run on kills by O'Malley, Polales and freshman Nick Vogel. Lewis called its first timeout. The hosts cut the lead to 19-18 before Vogel recorded a kill and Goetz blocked setter Mike Iandolo one-on-one to go up, 21-18. Polales and Amberg combined for a block to give the Bruins a 23-19 lead, and that twosome teamed up again for another block and a 26-20 lead. The set ended with a kill by O'Malley and aces by Goetz and Polales.
But the real fright flick for the Bruins was yet to come. They began Game 5 in a 2-6 grave before calling their first timeout. They were down 5-11 after an ace by Lewis' Brian Muesenfechter. They managed to force the Flyers into calling a timeout at 12-8 following a kill by Amberg and an ace by Goetz, but could not narrow the gap closer than three points. A kill by Pikering and a hitting error by O'Malley ended the horror show, which saw the UCLA hit -.062 in the final set.
Polales led the Bruins with 19 kills, 11 digs and 21 points, tying career-highs for kills and points and setting one for digs. O'Malley had 17 kills and Amberg added 14 kills, two aces and eight total blocks for 21 points. Senior setter Matt Wade recorded 57 assists and 10 digs and freshman libero Jamey Ker led the Bruins with 11 digs.
Drew Pickering led the Flyers with 22 kills and Iandolo added 52 assists, 12 digs and a pair of aces.
UCLA travels to Loyola-Chicago Saturday night for its final contest on a two-match Illinois road swing.
