The second-ranked men's volleyball team opened MPSF play with a four set win at fourth-ranked UC Irvine on Friday night. Scores of the contest were 25-19, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23. UCLA improves to 4-0, 1-0 on the season and returns to action at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at UC San Diego.
Mitch Stahl and Jake Arnitz led UCLA with 14 kills each. The Bruins were outhit .269 to .292 by the Anteaters, but won the serving battle eight aces to two and outblocked their hosts 9.5 to 9.0. Stahl hit .458 and added 5 block assists and three aces. Arnitz recorded a .344 hitting percentage and added four block assists. Oliver Martin managed six kills with four block assists. Hagen Smith totaled 29 set assists, six kills and an ace. Micah Ma'a led the team with nine digs and also handed out 23 set assists and hit two aces.
The Bruins started strong and moved out to a 5-3 advantage in set one after an ace by Stahl. The score was then tied at 8,9 and 10. A Smith ace and a Arnitz kill lifted UCLA to a 12-10 lead. Two straight attack errors by the Anteaters put UCLA ahead 17-13. An ace from Arnitz gave the Bruins a 24-18 edge and a kill from Stahl finished off the set 25-19 for the Bruins. UCLA hit .370 for the set.
In set two, it was Irvine which jumped to a 3-5 lead. Martin capped off a Bruin rally with a kill to propel UCLA into a 8-6 edge. The Bruins continued to play well and stretched the gap to 17-11. However, the home team battled back and evened the score at 17-all after a series of Bruin attack errors. Michael Fisher put UCLA back in front 19-18 with a kill. The score was tied at 20 and 21 before UCI put two straight together for a 21-23 lead. The Bruins leveled the score at 24, but UC Irvine scored the next two points for the win.
The Anteaters swung out to a 1-5 early edge in set three. UCLA closed to 6-8 after kills from Martin and Smith. A kill from Arnitz evened the score at 11-all. UCI went back in front 13-15, but kills from Ma'a and Martin put UCLA up 17-16. The score was then even at 20, 21, 22 and 23. A UCI service error handed UCLA a 24-23 lead and the Bruins took the set 25-23 after an attack error.
UCLA scored three of the first four points to open set four only to see UCI answer with four of the next five points to even things up at 5-all. The next three points went to the home team as well leaving UCLA down 5-8. Stahl provided the answers with a kill and a pair of aces to even the score at 8-all. The score was then even at each point until Martin registered a kill and Ma'a followed with an ace for a 24-22 Bruin lead. UCI narrowed the gap to one before JT Hatch delivered the winning kill for a 25-23 victory.