UCLA
BYU
Bruins Fall in Five to Cougars
January 31, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 31, 2010
Fourth-ranked BYU avenged an embarrassing sweep with a five-game victory against No.6 UCLA Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
After falling in three games and 105 minutes on Friday night, the Cougars extended the Bruins two hours and 35 minutes with a come-from-behind victory. BYU won 31-29, 27-30, 28-30, 31-29, 15-11 to raise its overall record to 6-3 and 4-2 in MPSF play. The Bruins saw their three-match winning streak end and fell to 4-5, 3-3.
The loss overshadowed a fine performance by the Bruins' Garrett Muagututia, who led both teams with 27 kills (.385), 13 digs and 31.0 points. He also recorded seven total blocks as he nearly single-handedly carried the Bruins.
In a match of clutch plays, BYU made enough of them at the right time to secure a key conference road split. The Cougars rallied from an 18-22 deficit in the fourth game to tie the score at 25-25 and turn the match around. A late 6-4 run by BYU, punctuated by a block of Muagututia at set point evened the match at 2-2.
After dropping the first game, the Bruins had edged ahead by making a pair of championship plays to take Games 2 & 3. With BYU's Andrew Stewart serving at 27-29 in Game 2, Muagututia misjudged the floating serve and it nearly fell for an ace before setter Kevin Ker alertly set the ball back to the UCLA senior for a kill, the game and a 1-1 tie.
In Game 3, Muagututia brilliantly dug an open-net attack by BYU. The ball went to Ker who set sophomore Jeremy Casebeer on the far antenna. Casebeer tooled the block for a 29-27 lead. BYU scored the next point on a kill by Kevin Sagers, but the Bruins' Nick Vogel converted a kill to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.
In Game 5, BYU Coach Shwan Patchell inserted serving specialist Joe Kauliakamu with a 9-8 lead and the sophomore from Las Vegas served four straight points to ice the set and the match for the visitors.
Vogel recorded 13 kills (.436), three aces and four total blocks for 18.0 points. Ker added 67 assists and 7.0 points on three kills, three aces and one block assist. Libero Tom Hastings added 13 digs.
Prior to the match, UCLA honored its 1970 and 2000 NCAA championship teams
