UCLA
UC Irvine
Bruins Drop Three-Setter at UC Irvine
February 28, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 9 men's volleyball team dropped a straight set decision at No. 3 UC Irvine on Friday night in Irvine. Scores of the MPSF match were 19-25, 17-25, 17-25. The Bruins are now 8-6 on the season and 4-6 in league matches.
The Bruins were outhit .045 to .317 by the Anteaters and outaced 2 to 9. UCLA managed to win the battle of the block 10.5 to 10.0. Oliver Martin came off the bench for four kills and was the lone Bruin to hit over .200. Michael Fisher topped the team with seven kills. He added an ace and three block assists. Hagen Smith and Mitch Stahl each recorded four block assists.
Irvine used a 0-3 run to break an early series of ties and take a 3-6 lead. The home team moved the margin out to 6-9, before UCLA closed to 8-10 on a kill by Jake Arnitz. UCI tallied the next four points to increase the margin to six. UCLA closed to 12-14 after a block by Trent Kersten and Smith, but the Anteaters scored the next three. The Bruins were able to get within two, at 15-17, one last time before falling, 19-25, in set one.
The Bruins quickliy found themselves down 1-4 in set two, but staged a big rally to even the score at 5-all on a kill by Stahl. UCLA went up 7-5 after a kill by Christian Hessenauer and an Irvine hitting error. The score was then tied at 7, 8 and 9. UCI rattled off five straight to take control at 9-14 and went on to post a 17-25 win.
Jake Reeves, Oliver Martin and Eric Sprague came on to start in set three. The score was tied at 2-2 after a Reeves kill. Irvine scored the next three points, but UCLA came back to level the score at 7-7 following a kill by Martin. However, a five-point run put Irvine up 10-16 and back in control. Set three went to UCI 17-25.
UCLA will return to the court on Saturday night in an MPSF match at UC San Diego which begins at 7 p.m. The Bruins are home on March 3 to face Cal State Northridge at 8 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
