The UCLA men’s volleyball players had their fingers crossed for an upset on Thursday night, but they left USC’s Galen Center reminded that the nation’s best team is hard to beat. The Trojans never gave the Bruins a glimmer of false hope, but dictated the momentum of the entire match in a 3-0 sweep.
The No. 8 Bruins (16-13, 9-12 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) faced the No. 1 Trojans (20-2, 19-2) in what was a preview of the upcoming postseason match between the same two teams on April 23.
Whatever underdog optimism the Bruins had, the Trojans were quick to scatter it. They wasted no time, scrambling off to a 17-7 lead thanks to a textbook offense. USC’s junior outside hitter Tony Ciarelli and senior opposite hitter Murphy Troy led the offense with a combined 28 kills and six aces.
The Trojans continued the assault, winning the first set 25-12 and finding an 18-8 lead in the second. A 14-6 run by a desperate Bruin team was not enough, and UCLA dropped the second set, 25-22.
“They’re a good serving team,” UCLA senior libero Tom Hastings said of the crosstown opponents. “Our passing wasn’t the best tonight, and it’s definitely something we need to focus on during practice. If we get that down, we’ll have more scoring chances.”
In the final set, UCLA kept things tied midway through but couldn’t hold off a late burst, and USC completed the sweep with a 25-21 win.
None of the Bruins stood out in the match. Junior quick hitter Thomas Amberg led in kills but had only seven. He did deliver an impressive defensive performance, however.
“We didn’t have anybody who could put the whole package together, with the exception of Amberg,” coach Al Scates said. “But you can’t win a whole match with just one quick hitter.”
If there’s one positive the Bruins can take away from the defeat, it’s that the match was an opportunity to study their future playoff opponents. A win then would be more valuable in any postseason prospects.
“They played exactly as we expected them to play,” junior quick hitter Nick Vogel said of the Trojans. “If we can capitalize on that, we should be able to do much more damage next time.”
UCLA will close out its regular season with a road match against No. 13 Pepperdine (10-15, 6-15) on Saturday. Although the Bruins previously beat the Waves in a 3-0 match on Jan. 26, the finale still figures to be a competitive one, as Pepperdine recently swept a formidable UC Santa Barbara team.
The match makes no difference in playoff seedings, but a win for UCLA would allow the team to go into its rematch against USC on a positive note.