The freshmen are showing up early for UCLA men’s volleyball in 2016.
A trio of new Bruins – outside hitter Dylan Missry, setter/hitter Micah Ma’a and libero Davis Gillett – made their presence known Thursday afternoon in University Park, Pennsylvania, standing out across the court in No. 5 UCLA’s 3-1 victory over No. 6 Ohio State.
“They’re making an impact, they’re talented, working hard and going to get better fast. Dylan had a nice match tonight, for his first official start getting 12 kills and hitting .300 is pretty good – I think he’s only going to get better,” said coach John Speraw. “Micah’s playing great, and Davis Gillett is doing a wonderful job at libero. Those three freshmen right there are making a big difference on our team.”
Missry stood out the most on the stat sheet, but the effort of all three helped the undefeated Bruins (2-0) handle the Buckeyes (1-2) with a dominant final three sets (24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22).
The first set was a back-and-forth battle, but UCLA couldn’t close when it was just two points from victory. Ohio State, led by the offensive attack of sophomore outside hitter Nicolas Szerszen, claimed the set, but that was all the Buckeyes would get.
“We subbed in a couple of guys and turned things around when things weren’t going well,” said junior outside hitter Michael Fisher. “We know anyone can get the job done off the bench, so that was big for us. I think we might have felt the stress of playing a big match early in the season, but then we turned it around, played with a lot of energy and we grooved into our game.”
Speraw said that he thought his team improved each set, citing the early season as an adjustment period for the young Bruin team.
“We’re just not that sharp. I think we were making some mistakes that we don’t typically make,” Speraw said. “Guys are a little nervous and we just need to get back to relaxing a little bit, taking a breath, going out there, competing and having some fun. Once we did that we were in much better shape.”
The last three sets were all neck and neck, each ending with the same 25-22 score and UCLA on top. Four Bruin hitters reached double-digit kills along the way, and Ma’a showed his versatility with nearly two dozen set assists in addition to his 11 kills.
On defense, UCLA relied heavily on Gillett and junior setter Hagen Smith to stop the high-power Ohio State offense. Smith, in addition to a team-leading 32 assists, led all players on the court with 14 digs. He added the team’s only solo block.
The match was the first in the Pac-12/Big 10 Challenge hosted by Penn State, part of UCLA’s three-match East Coast road trip, and the team will return tomorrow for another top-10 showdown against the hosting Nittany Lions.
“Penn State is going to be excited to play us in their home court,” Missry said. “We just need to stay calm and pick up another nonconference win, which should really help us at the end of the year.”
