The difference in the rankings between No. 3 UC Santa Barbara and No. 7 UCLA could not have been a poorer way of dictating how Friday’s volleyball match transpired.
The match could have fallen any which way, but it was the Bruins who were able to seal up the match in a close 30-28, 30-24, 32-30, 30-19 contest. UCLA is safely above .500 for now in MPSF play with an 8-6 league record, 10-7 overall.
“This is the best team we’ve played well against,” coach Al Scates said after his team defeated its highest ranked opponent this season, No. 3 UCSB.
The matchup could not have been any more even between the two teams. The match began with a little tit for tat, as the two teams traded points, with the point differential never amounting to greater than four.
The game was so close that winning game one seemed to be just a matter of taking the right timeouts. Whoever took the break came back and scored on big runs.
UCLA was able to close out the set on a small 3-1 run after Scates called a timeout, which was right after UCSB had made a 4-0 run following its own timeout.
“I think anybody is beatable,” said outside hitter Garrett Muagututia, who had 12 kills at a .450 clip on the night. “It’s just how hard you come out to play and how well together you play as a team.”
And by game two it was quite evident that the Bruins were meshing together better than ever, as they battled from behind twice to make 4-0 and 7-1 runs to steal the second set.
Game three was more of the same back-and-forth action, but then Santa Barbara’s big gun came out to play. Evan Patak, who leads the conference with 6.09 kills per game, turned up the heat on his game in the third set. The All-American finished the night with 13 kills, but he notched six kills and three aces for the Gauchos in game three alone, and came through in the clutch moments, including at game point. Up until that set, the Bruins held Patak to a .062 average, stifling the Gauchos’ right side attack.
“Everybody’s game plan that has played Santa Barbara has said, “˜We have got to shut (Patak) down,”’ said outside hitter Paul George, who added 16 kills behind Steve Klosterman’s 23. “And I think we did that pretty well tonight.”
However, the Bruin team captain also acknowledged that the Gaucho senior got off his leash for awhile in game three.
“You can only hold him down for so long,” George said of Patak.
After letting the third set slip through their fingers, the Bruins came back with a vengeance and took a 7-3 lead on their rival, and UCLA never looked back. The gap grew larger and larger, from eight to nine, up to as much as a 12-point lead.
“We were coming back and we almost won (game three),” George said. “I felt like we were in control. So (in between games three and four) I turned to (the team) and said, “˜Hey guys we were playing good volleyball. We just let up in that game.’ It wasn’t that they outplayed us at all. I said, “˜Let’s just take care of our business and we’ll smash them.'”
And smash the Gauchos they did. The Bruins racked up a whopping .484 hitting percentage in game four en route to throwing down UCSB 30-19.
“This could be our turnaround,” George said. “We lost to Pacific up there (last week). This was a great game to bounce back from that letdown. Everybody contributed tonight and that’s what we need to do to win games.”