Saturday, February 22
Los Angeles, CA
5 p.m. PT
UCLA
8-3,0-0MPSF
3
vs
2
No. 2 UC Irvine
10-2,0-0Big West
1
2
3
4
5
F
UC Irvine
25
21
25
14
10
2
UCLA
21
25
20
25
15
3
No. 3 UCLA Men's Volleyball Beats No. 2 UC Irvine in Five Sets
February 22, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
LOS ANGELES – The No. 3 UCLA Men's Volleyball team earned a five-set win over No. 2 UC Irvine on Saturday evening inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Set scores were 21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14, and 15-10.
Cameron Thorne led the Bruins (8-3) attack with 17 kills on 19 attempts, hitting .842 for the match. He also added a team-high six blocks in the win.
Cooper Robinson and Zach Rama tacked on 15 kills and 11 kills, respectively, as the Bruins hit .406 as a team on the night.
In the opening set the two sides traded points throughout the majority of the set, and it was even at 14-14 before the Anteaters (10-2) went on a 6-2 run to take a 20-16 lead, forcing a Bruins timeout.
The Bruins responded with a 4-0 run of their own to tie it at 20-20, courtesy of a kill by Thorne, who finished with three in the opening set. The Anteaters then rallied and took five of the next six points to take the first set 25-21 and took a 1-0 set lead.
As for the second set the Bruins opened up a 7-6 advantage before UCI took six of the next nine points to take a 13-10 lead.
UCLA instantly responded with a 3-0 run of their own to tie it at 13-13, with Thorne recording an ace during the rally.
The sides continued to battle, and the Bruins took a two-point lead courtesy of a Rama ace and led 17-15.
The Bruins continued to pile on the pressure and took the second set 25-21, and tied the match at 1-1 heading to the third set.
After dropping the third set 25-20, the Bruins responded well to begin the fourth set, with Ido David serving back-to-back aces to put the Bruins up 7-3.
Christopher Hersh made his first appearance of the season later on in the set and helped push the Bruins' advantage to 11-5 before David slammed home another kill to put UCLA up 13-6.
David served his third ace of the set to put the Bruins up double digits 19-9, before the Bruins took the fourth set handily, 25-14, to force a decisive set five and tie the match at 2-2.
In the final set the Bruins opened up a 2-0 advantage courtesy of a block by David and Thorne, and a kill from Robinson.
Thorne tallied his new career-high 16th kill to put UCLA up 3-1 before UCLA extended its advantage to 5-1 courtesy of Robinson putting pressure on the Anteaters at the service line and forcing an attack error.
Robinson continued to apply the kills and tallied his 12th of the match to put UCLA up 6-3.
Zach Rama added another ace for the Bruins and put UCLA up 10-6 in the fifth set, before Thorne slammed down a kill to put UCLA up 14-10. David then hammered home a kill to finish off the match and the Bruins took the fifth set 15-10.
Up Next: UCLA hosts No. 16 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, February 26 inside Pauley Pavilion. First serve is set for 7 p.m. PT.
Cameron Thorne led the Bruins (8-3) attack with 17 kills on 19 attempts, hitting .842 for the match. He also added a team-high six blocks in the win.
Cooper Robinson and Zach Rama tacked on 15 kills and 11 kills, respectively, as the Bruins hit .406 as a team on the night.
In the opening set the two sides traded points throughout the majority of the set, and it was even at 14-14 before the Anteaters (10-2) went on a 6-2 run to take a 20-16 lead, forcing a Bruins timeout.
The Bruins responded with a 4-0 run of their own to tie it at 20-20, courtesy of a kill by Thorne, who finished with three in the opening set. The Anteaters then rallied and took five of the next six points to take the first set 25-21 and took a 1-0 set lead.
As for the second set the Bruins opened up a 7-6 advantage before UCI took six of the next nine points to take a 13-10 lead.
UCLA instantly responded with a 3-0 run of their own to tie it at 13-13, with Thorne recording an ace during the rally.
The sides continued to battle, and the Bruins took a two-point lead courtesy of a Rama ace and led 17-15.
The Bruins continued to pile on the pressure and took the second set 25-21, and tied the match at 1-1 heading to the third set.
After dropping the third set 25-20, the Bruins responded well to begin the fourth set, with Ido David serving back-to-back aces to put the Bruins up 7-3.
Christopher Hersh made his first appearance of the season later on in the set and helped push the Bruins' advantage to 11-5 before David slammed home another kill to put UCLA up 13-6.
David served his third ace of the set to put the Bruins up double digits 19-9, before the Bruins took the fourth set handily, 25-14, to force a decisive set five and tie the match at 2-2.
In the final set the Bruins opened up a 2-0 advantage courtesy of a block by David and Thorne, and a kill from Robinson.
Thorne tallied his new career-high 16th kill to put UCLA up 3-1 before UCLA extended its advantage to 5-1 courtesy of Robinson putting pressure on the Anteaters at the service line and forcing an attack error.
Robinson continued to apply the kills and tallied his 12th of the match to put UCLA up 6-3.
Zach Rama added another ace for the Bruins and put UCLA up 10-6 in the fifth set, before Thorne slammed down a kill to put UCLA up 14-10. David then hammered home a kill to finish off the match and the Bruins took the fifth set 15-10.
Up Next: UCLA hosts No. 16 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday, February 26 inside Pauley Pavilion. First serve is set for 7 p.m. PT.
Team Stats
Irvine
UCLA
Kills
55
56
Errors
20
15
Attempts
114
101
Hitting %
.307
.406
Points
67.0
77.0
Assists
46
54
Aces
3
13
Blocks
9
8
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
3
Blocks
6
Kills
15
Aces
2
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's VolleyballMB
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