The first set went exactly as planned.
UCLA men’s volleyball hit .455 – some of its best offense this season. The No. 9 Bruins (5-4, 1-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) also out-blocked the No. 11 Long Beach State 49ers (7-3, 4-3 MPSF) 4.5 to zero – backing up its offense with a strong defensive showing.
“We didn’t make a single error the entire set,” said coach John Speraw. “I thought that was the volleyball they were capable of playing and I thought that was going to be the volleyball we were going to play.”
“Then we lost our focus,” Speraw added.
The next three sets were punctuated by errors and miscues, culminating in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the 49ers.
The Bruins attempted to stage multiple comebacks, including one that almost saw them push the game to five sets, but each time proved to be their own worst enemy – serving into the net or blocking out of bounds.
The game featured all four freshmen players in the starting lineup, all of whom helped carry the team’s effort.
Freshman outside hitter Jake Arnitz led UCLA with 14 kills, a game high. Fellow freshman outside hitter J.T. Hatch followed up with 13 kills of his own and freshman setter Eric Matheis contributed 40 assists – his most in a game this season.
The Bruins at first appeared dominant, but by the final play of the fourth set, it was the 49ers who managed to put together the most consistent play on both sides of the ball.
“They played pretty good defense,” Hatch said. “They won out in terms of getting the ball in.”
The Bruins ended up hitting .226 for the game, a stark contrast from the promise they showed in the first set.
“It wasn’t necessarily anything (Long Beach) really did, most of the mistakes made were on our side of the court,” Matheis said. “We kept in control of our destiny the entirety of the match.”
In the first three weeks of the season the Bruins have faced some of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s strongest competitors. UCLA now stands at 1-4 on the season, having dropped contests against No. 7 Brigham Young University, No. 4 Pepperdine and Long Beach State.
UCLA has struggled in its opening five games, but its season stretches into mid-April, leaving the Bruins two months to remedy their mistakes and make a run for the postseason.
Matheis summed up UCLA’s outlook in a single sentence.
“I’m confident that we can straighten things out,” he said.