Despite getting swept in three games to Stanford Saturday night, a win against Pacific Friday night locked UCLA into a spot in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.
Their season will live on.
“We knew we had to win one of the two to secure our eighth place in playoffs,” junior outside hitter Garrett Muagututia said.
The Bruins (14-16, 10-12 MPSF) opened up the weekend strong with a 30-26, 30-21, 30-21 sweep of Pacific (3-28, 0-22 MPSF) on Friday night. Despite the Tigers being winless in conference play, UCLA performed well and had an opportunity to pull another upset against Stanford (21-10, 14-8 MPSF).
“I think, because we won against Pacific, we just came in with no energy, and it just seemed like we didn’t really care,” Muagututia said.
After handily beating Pacific in just more than an hour, the Bruins faltered against Stanford, falling 30-23, 30-26, 30-28. Having already secured their playoff berth, however, the second match had no effect on the team’s tournament eligibility or seed position.
UCLA dominated Friday’s match, hitting .372, while Pacific could only muster a hitting percentage of .171. Muagututia led the Bruins with 12 kills.
In their last meeting more than two months ago, UCLA was able to pull out a win against Stanford despite dropping the first two games.
“It was like the last match versus Stanford,” coach Al Scates said. “I thought we might have a chance to do that tonight, but it didn’t happen.”
The Bruins struggled with hitting against the Cardinal and fell short of Stanford’s .366 attack, hitting only .237 themselves. Muagututia’s play was a bright spot for the Bruins, as he once again led the way with 14 kills and .455 hitting percentage.
It was senior night at Maples Pavilion, and the Cardinal could do no wrong in front of the 860-person crowd.
“They really served well and passed well,” Scates said. “They passed so well they got a lot of one-on-one opportunities.”
Scates also cited serving errors as something that got the Bruins into trouble. With a week before the MPSF tournament, though, UCLA will have time to tune up and work on their weaknesses. Heading into the tournament, UCLA will have the eighth and final seed. With their last-place spot, the Bruins will have to face the No. 1 team ““ both in the conference and the nation in UC Irvine. The Bruins have lost to the Anteaters three times already this season, but with each match, UCLA has added a game victory to their total, finally pushing UCI to five games in their most recent meeting last month.
“I think we definitely can beat Irvine,” Muagututia said. “I feel like during the playoffs, anybody can beat anybody; it’s just knowing it and proving it.”