UCLA men’s volleyball handed a scuffling California Baptist team its eighth-straight loss on Tuesday night in Pauley Pavilion. The team, while never quite dominant, came away with a sweep (25-20, 25-17, 25-19) for its third conference victory.
Cal Baptist (3-12, 1-11 MPSF), ranked No. 11 out of 12 teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, entered the match sitting only one spot below No. 11 UCLA (7-5, 3-5 MPSF) in the standings.
The Bruins, taking advantage of a -.011 Lancer hitting percentage, comfortably cruised to a sweep, but allowed the visitors to stay in the sets by only hitting .247 themselves. All three sets were back-and-forth until UCLA found its rhythm and was able to pull away from CBU each time.
Down 13-11 in the second set, the Bruins went on an eight-point run with sophomore outside hitter Michael Fisher at the service line. They maintained that lead for the remainder of the set.
“When I came off the bench I just tried to do the right thing and execute what the coaches were telling us,” Fisher said. “It didn’t feel super different for me because I just came in and was just trying to serve the ball at the other guy and get some points. I never felt down at all.”
Once again, the Bruin blockers had a dominant match with 32 total block assists, out-blocking their opponents 16 to 9.5. Redshirt junior middle blocker Trent Kersten led the team with nine block assists and sophomore setter Hagen Smith added seven.
“What I’m most pleased with is that we were able to adapt to the players out there, particularly at the net where our blocking was very good,” said coach John Speraw. “I think we were in good positions early, they got some breaks as good hitters do, and we got them late.”
Smith started instead of freshman setter Eric Matheis who has been the recent starter for the Bruins. In addition to his blocks, Smith had a match-leading 30 assists and six digs tied with freshman outside hitter Jake Arnitz.
UCLA will face one of its toughest challenges of the season in No. 3 USC this weekend. The Trojans sit atop the conference, but Kersten said that the team is going to be ready for the challenge.
“I told the guys in the huddle after the match that this is the most exciting week we get to prepare for,” Kersten said. “We get ‘SC in Pauley Pavilion, Sunday night with the TV here, it’s going to be a really fun match.”