IRVINE “”mdash; Tied at 28-28 in Game 2 of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, the UCLA men’s volleyball team needed only two points to even the match at one game apiece against the No. 1 team in the nation.
Instead, UC Irvine senior outside hitter Taylor Wilson soared through the air and put away back-to-back kills. As the teams switched sides, the Anteaters took their growing confidence with them, while the Bruins could only walk to the opposite bench with their chances for saving the season virtually gone.
No one looked up at the scoreboard to read the 2-0 deficit. Everyone understood the situation.
“Tonight was a perfect example of our season,” junior outside hitter Garrett Muagututia said. “We came from behind and kept fighting but couldn’t quite get there.”
The 2009 season came to an end for UCLA (14-16) as the Bruins could not catch up to UC Irvine (25-3), which took them down in four games 30-23, 31-29, 30-32, 30-21 in front of 2,005 fans at the Bren Events Center.
UCLA was outmatched by UCI and its fast offense, which hit .350 throughout the match. The Bruins only managed a .291 hitting percentage. UCI’s back row attack combined with quick sets to the outside spelled disaster for the Bruins’ defense.
“That really quick back row attack out of the middle is really what holds their offense together because they run really quick sets everywhere,” senior opposite Sean O’Malley said. “Because they can do that so well from pretty much anywhere you have to respect the whole court the whole time.”
On the offensive side, UCLA became predictable.
“They caught on to our offense,” Muagututia said. “We tried to set the middles quick so they started committing so we had to go pin to pin on perfect passes.”
Game 3 was a bright spot for the Bruins. They jumped out to an 8-1 lead, and UCI used both of its timeouts by that point. The Anteaters clawed back to draw within two and a tie at 28-28, but this time the Bruins were able to earn the last two points to win the game and gain momentum heading into Game 4.
“I like the fight the team showed in the third game,” coach Al Scates said.
But whatever energy UCLA had after Game 3 quickly dissipated. UCI ran away with the game, the Bruins looking helpless as their season wound down. UCLA managed to hit only .094 in the fourth game.
“We battled point for point and couldn’t get back into it,” redshirt freshman opposite Jack Polales said.
“We played an excellent team, as far as I’m concerned the best team in the country,” O’Malley said. “And there’s things we aren’t very good at, and they knew what those were.”