OSCAR ALVAREZ Sophomore Chris Peña
spikes the ball in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the BYU Cougars.
BYU d. UCLA 3-2
By Daniel Miller
Daily Bruin Contributor
A convincing 3-1 victory over BYU Thursday was supposed to
avenge the UCLA men’s volleyball team’s loss to the
Cougars last year in the NCAA championship match.
Now the Bruins have another loss that calls for revenge.
In front of a relatively sedate 1,189 fans in Pauley Pavilion
the No. 2 Bruins (14-3, 9-2 MPSF) lost to the No. 4 Cougars
Saturday, 30-28, 28-30, 29-31, 33-31, 12-15.
The turning point of the match came when BYU (11-3, 9-3) broke a
6-6 tie in the fifth game to take a 9-6 lead. The Cougars never
looked back.
“They are traditionally a very good defensive team, and we
saw that today,” junior outside hitter Cameron Mount said.
“We played about as well as we did on Thursday and they
played better. They served better.”
After losing the second and third games to trail 2-1, the Bruins
came out visibly energized in the fourth game. Strong play by Mount
helped the Bruins pull out the 33-31 win in the game.
“He is a streaky player, and we want his good streaks to
last longer, which they are,” UCLA head coach Al Scates said.
“He was hot in the fourth game, and he is maturing as a
player.”
Mount and senior outside hitter Matt Komer led the Bruins with
18 kills each. Mount also had a service ace, four digs and three
block assists. Komer had a service ace and seven digs.
After posting 10 digs in Thursday’s victory, freshman
outside hitter Gray Garrett had another strong showing, making nine
kills and nine digs.
Yet, the Bruins’ defense was no match for the
Cougars’, who seemed to dive for every Bruin spike and come
up with a dig.
“They played really well,” Garrett said. “They
dug the ball a lot and had great ball control.”
The Cougars out-hit the Bruins with a hitting percentage of
.324, while UCLA hit .250. BYU senior All-American Mike Wall had a
match-high 31 kills. The Bruins were hurt by the absence of
freshman outside hitter Jonathan Acosta, who has been sidelined
since the beginning of February with a torn stomach muscle.
While Acosta will likely return to the lineup this week, another
member of his family saw action Saturday. BYU’s Joaquin
Acosta, a senior outside hitter who is Jonathan’s cousin,
posted 17 kills and two block assists for the Cougars.
Five Cougars had double-digit kill totals, while only Komer and
Mount did for UCLA.
“I thought we were in the match the whole time,”
Scates said. “But when you are down a couple points in the
fifth game it is hard to come back.”
Though clearly out-hit, it is a testament to the gutsy Bruins
that they were able to keep the match so close. With the probable
addition of Acosta to the Bruins’ lineup this week, a UCLA
team at full strength will have fewer comebacks to worry about.