MVB Blocks BYU For a Weekend Sweep

Saturday, February 18

Los Angeles, CA

5:00 PM

UCLA

13-1,2-0MPSF

Brigham Young

8-4,0-2MPSF

BYU

UCLA

Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA

MVB Blocks BYU For a Weekend Sweep

February 18, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score18.pdf

The No. 2 UCLA men's volleyball team (13-1, 2-0) defeated No. 8 BYU (8-4,0-2) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contest held on Saturday evening on Collins Court in the John Wooden Center. Scores of the match were 25-17, 25-21, 25-18.

The Bruins out blocked the visitors 9.0 to 2.0 on the night with Guy Genis and Andrew Rowan each registering five blocks. Ido David led the Bruins attack, which hit a combined .481 for the match, with a season-high 21 kills. This marks UCLA' best start to a season since the 2018 team opened with victories in 14 of its first 15 matches. The Bruins will play a non-league match next at No. 6 UC Irvine on Friday night before returning to campus to host the Anteaters on Sunday evening at 5 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

In set one, the Bruins utilized an ace from Ethan Champlin and back-to-back blocks from Alex Knight/ David/ Genis to break a 7-all tie. The Cougars fought back to even the score at 12-all. Knight and Champlin swings put UCLA back in front 14-12. A BYU error and another Champlin kill extended the margin to 17-13. An ace from Rowan and a couple of kills by David made it 21-15. Merrick McHenry's kill gave UCLA a 23-17 lead. Champlin and McHenry combined on a block and Knight followed with an ace to win the set at 25-17. David finished the frame with six kills.

UCLA opened up a 7-4 lead to start set two. The lead grew to 11-6 after a Knight kill. Two straight swings by Champlin extended the gap to 16-10. A couple of David spikes put the Bruins up 19-14. McHenry's kill made it 21-17. BYU narrowed the deficit to 21-19 following a Bruin error. A Champlin kill and a Cougar error put UCLA at set point, 24-20. David's eighth kill of the set ended the frame at 25-21. UCLA hit .560 for the set.

The Bruins stormed out to an 8-2 advantage to begin set three thanks to a serving lift from Rowan. Knight's spike made it 10-4. Two more kills from David and UCLA had BYU doubled up at 14-7. BYU battled to pull within 16-12. However, after another David swing, the margin was quickly back at 20-14. After BYU rallied to close to 21-17, McHenry and David each answered with kills for 23-17. A Rowan ace pushed the Bruins to set point and David ended the match with his 21st kill on his 31^st swing.

UCLA outhit BYU .481 to .311 on the night and was up 5-1 in service aces over the Cougars. Rowan, who finished with a couple of aces, handed out 37 set assists. Troy Gooch led the Bruins with five digs. The 21-kill effort by David was just off of his career-high of 24 set last season at BYU.