University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
17-7, 10-6MPSF
Cal Baptist
7-19, 2-14MPSF
MVB Goes the Distance to Win 7th Straight
April 01, 2017 | Men's Volleyball
The No. 6-rankedย men's volleyball team won a hard-fought five set decision at Cal Baptist in an MSPF match played on Saturday night in Riverside.ย Scores of the contest were 25-23, 23-25, 25-15, 23-25, 20-18. Jake Arnitz connected for a season-high 21 kills to lead the Bruins attack. It was the seventh straight win for UCLAย whichย tied itsย longest win streak of the season and improved to 17-7 overall and 10-6 in league action. Next upย are a couple of league matches on Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (7p.m.) against No. 4-ranked Hawai'i (22-4, 12-4) in the Wooden Center to close out the regular season.
A series of errors put the Bruins down 1-3 to start set five. An Arnitz kill moved UCLA within one at 2-3, but Cal Baptist scored the next two points for a 2-5 advantage. A couple ofย errors and another kill by Arnitz made it 5-6. The Bruins came back to go in frontย 8-6 lead on a pairย of blocks by Micah Ma'a and Mitch Stahl and another CBU error. UCLA went aheadย 10-8 following a kill by Jackson Bantle. Twoย kills andย Bruin attack errors put CBU back in front 11-13. A Michael Fisher kill and a Ma'a block evened the score at 13-all. UCLA then fought off five match points with a service error and multipleย kills by Arnitz and Fisher. Stahl gave UCLA a look at match point with an ace for a 19-18 lead. A CBU attack error ended the battleย at 20-18.
Set one was tightly contested through a 12-all tie. Calย Baptist then ran out to a 14-17 lead. Christian Hessenauer's kill and Stahl's ace pulled the Bruins to within one. A block by Oliver Martin and Dylan Missry tied the score at 20. The score was then levelย up at 21 and 22. UCLA grabbedย the lead after a Lancer service error. An ace by Missry took it to set point and Stahl's kill finished off the set in a 25-23 win. UCLA hit .294 with Arnitz and Martin totaling four kills each. Stahl recorded an ace in his 16th straight match.
UCLA fell behind 3-8 and 6-12 in set two. An ace by Hagen Smith cut the margin to 8-12 and another ace from Stahl made it 12-14. The Bruins tied it at 16-all onย a kill by Missry. The score was then even at points 17, 18, 19 and 20. CBU tallied the next three points and went on to a 23-25 win. UCLA hit .217ย for the set.
A pair of aces by Jackson Bantle helped the Bruins forge anย 8-4 lead to begin set three. Michael Fisher came off the bench to give the Bruins a lift and his kill made it 14-8. Kills from Martin and then Bantle upped the margin to 17-9. Another Fisher kill made it 22-12 and then an Arnitz swing finished off the set for a 25-15 victory. UCLA hit .364 for the set to -.067 forย the Lancers.
CBU launched out to a 1-5 lead in set four. The Bruins cut the gap to 6-8 and then 9-11 after kills by Fisher. Ma'a came on to set and assisted on three of the next four kills, two by Arnitz and one by Bantle, which made it 14-15. Another run by the Lancers pushed the margin back to 14-19. The Bruins sliced the deficit to 21-22 after a pair of Fisher kills. UCLA evened the score at 23 on a block by Hessenauer and Arnitz, but CBU tallied the next two points for the set win. ย ย
Fisher finished with a season-high 11 kills and hit .429 for match. Stahl also added 11 kills (.389), three aces and five blocks. JT Hatch added 13 digs from the libero position. UCLA outhit the Lancers .252 to .200 for the match and won the battle at the service line 12 aces to three.
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