Anticipating the most important match of the season, the UCLA
men’s volleyball team did its homework before arriving at UC
Santa Barbara.
After studying the Gauchos’ play last weekend in their
victory over BYU, UCLA head coach Al Scates lead UCLA (7-7, 4-6
MPSF) to sweep UCSB (5-11, 3-8 MPSF) in three games, 30-26, 30-28,
30-28, last night.
“The Gauchos’ outside hitters were on fire against
BYU,” Scates said. “We knew we had to contain them and
the people that came in to replace them.”
The Bruins proceeded to do just that, blocking UCSB’s
outside hitter Matthew Boelk, among others, out of the game.
Scates said that UCLA cannot afford to lose to teams ranked
below it, and Wednesday’s pivotal victory kept UCLA in the
running for an MPSF tournament bid.
Surprisingly neither team exhibited strong offensive play
Wednesday night, because both teams were familiar with the
other’s offensive strategies.
Neither team hit especially well, with the Gaucho’s
actually out-hitting and out-blocking the Bruins, .268 to .235, and
18.5 to 11, respectively.
The Gauchos’ numerous service errors, however, helped
secure the UCLA victory, along with several UCLA standouts.
In his first road game, freshman opposite hitter Matt McKinney
led the team with a career-high 14 kills. Sophomore outside hitter
Jonathan Acosta contributed 12 kills and very consistent
serving.
“Acosta broke out of a slump tonight,” Scates said.
“He was really putting it away. We scored a lot behind him.
He had been making a lot of errors during the season but he turned
it around.”
With the Bruins covering all the bases in every game,
UCSB’s frustration grew, and the Gauchos served harder and
harder.
Unfortunately, their accuracy wasn’t on target. UCSB ended
up with two service aces and 19 errors while UCLA tallied three
service aces and four errors.