After a sluggish first two and a half sets, the Bruins were down by just two points to Long Beach State, 22-20, in the third set, and it seemed like UCLA was getting back into the match.
They were on a 7-2 run and with plenty of momentum. The Bruins had begun to respond to the attack of 49er outside hitter Tommy Pestolesi and the serving of opposite Dean Bittner. Bruin sophomore Thomas Amberg and freshman Jonathan Bridgeman were leading a re-energized UCLA attack against Long Beach State.
The next serve, UCLA sophomore outside hitter Mitchel Johnson smacked another service error, his second and the Bruins’ 20th of the night, and handed the momentum back to Long Beach, already up two sets to none, putting them ahead 23-30 in the third.
And the No. 9 49ers (8-6, 6-4 MPSF) would go on, helped by two more UCLA service errors, to win the set and sweep the No. 3 Bruins (9-8, 8-6), 30-23, 30-26, 30-23 in front of 531 fans Friday night at Pauley Pavilion to bring UCLA’s home record down to 3-5.
“I think our missed serves are what really hurt us,” Bridgeman said. “Every time we would get on a run, we’d miss a serve and it would just kill our momentum.”
UCLA’s 22 errors with just two aces gave a mere .703 serving average while Long Beach hit for a .773 serving average with six aces. And whatever the Bruins were doing to serve better, it was not enough, Bridgeman said.
“We couldn’t serve. Couldn’t block,” senior outside hitter Garrett Muagututia said. “It’s tough to score points when you’re not doing those two things.”
Immediately after the match, coach Al Scates herded his team into the locker room for the second time in as many matches where he “harped on serving,” Bridgeman said.
After the match, Scates said his team was serving too low, making too many errors into the net.
“I don’t care if we serve hard and we serve the ball out because a lot of those balls the opponents are going to take a pass anyway. But when you serve the ball in the net it’s ridiculous,” he said. “So we’ve got to serve hard and make our errors off the court, let them make a judgment call.”
The Bruins also cycled through four players at the outside hitter slot across from Muagututia.
“I’m going to have to pick an H2 to play opposite Garrett and stick with him instead of going through this merry-go-round of outside hitters,” Scates said.
The H2 position has not seen a consistent starter this season, with redshirt junior Dylan Bowermaster and redshirt sophomore Jeremy Casebeer splitting the majority of starts. Friday, with Bowermaster out because of strep throat, freshman Chen Levitan got the nod, but Scates went to Casebeer, Johnson and redshirt sophomore Ryal Jagd through the match.
And the H2 spot was not the Bruins only troublesome position Friday. Scates played a total of 13 players, some of whom saw just a few points.
“It definitely hurt us not being able to get a steady rhythm going,” said Bridgeman, who came off the bench at opposite with three kills, an ace, a block assist and a solo block. “But when something is not working you have to change it up and it’s up to the people on the bench to jump into what’s happening on the court and move forward.”
Muagututia said the Bruins have just been “in a funk” the past two matches and will work things out in practice today and Tuesday.
“They don’t call him the legend for nothing,” Muagututia said. “So coach Scates will have something planned for us and hopefully we’ll turn it around.”