Bruins Open with Sweep at Geo. Mason
January 06, 2016 | Men's Volleyball
The fifth-ranked men's volleyball opened the new season with a sweep on the road at #14 George Mason on Tuesday night in Fairfax, Va. Scores of the match were 25-23, 25-12 and 25-20.
Sophomore JT Hatch led the way for the Bruins with 11 kills while hitting .529. Junior middle blocker Mitch Stahl added 7 kills and hit .700. Sophomore Jake Arnitz added eight kills with a .462 swing percentage. UCLA outhit the Patriots .538 to .157 on the night, including a .933 percentage (14-0-15) in a dominating set number two.
UCLA ran out to a 17-11 lead in set one only to see George Mason come back to even things up at 22-all. Kills by freshman Micah Ma'a, Stahl and Hatch gave the Bruins the win. In set two, UCLA opened up a 16-8 advantage and went on to a big result. Set three was tied at points 15 thru 20. Sophomore Christian Hessenauer's kill pushed the Bruins into a 21-20 lead. A couple of aces by junior Hagen Smith put UCLA up by three. Arnitz's kill took it to set and match point and the Bruins captured the match on a GMU error.
The Bruins will hit the road tonight and head to Pennsylvania to begin preparations for Thursday's match against sixth-ranked Ohio State (2 p.m. PT) and Friday's contest with 10th-ranked Penn State (4:30 PT). Both matches will be played at the home of the Nittany Lions.
