MALIBU, Calif. – Slow starts have plagued the UCLA men’s volleyball team early in the 2016 season and the opening set Friday night was no different. But the box score certainly won’t show it.
In a back-and-forth battle that featured five set points, the No. 3 Bruins (13-2, 9-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) were the last ones standing, ultimately snagging a 32-30 marathon win over the No. 9 Pepperdine Waves (6-5, 5-5).
The team struggled, though, to gain its footing in the early going.
“I felt like we were ready, but I’m going to have to go back and look at some video and look at our execution,” said coach John Speraw. “Right out of the gates, we didn’t have a very crisp pass. We just weren’t very sharp early.”
UCLA steadily improved and wouldn’t need such drama to take the next two sets, using its balanced offensive attack to conclude the first half of conference play with a sweep (32-30, 25-21, 25-19).
“It’s always nice going into a different gym and pulling out a ‘W’ when we’re in a different environment,” said freshman setter/hitter Micah Ma’a. “We came over ready to play.”
The Bruins’ night was highlighted by a bevy of blistering kills, but the team’s first set struggles remained a focus even after the commanding sweep.
“I don’t know why we do that, but it seems to be the trend,” said sophomore outside hitter Jake Arnitz. “We really turned it around, though … We came together, figured everything out and worked as a team to score the points we needed.”
Arnitz led the way offensively with 16 kills on a .556 hitting percentage. Ma’a followed with 11 kills of his own, in addition to 21 set assists.
“I think we get passive at times, especially when we make errors,” Ma’a said. “We play our best volleyball when we’re aggressive. That’s when we play at our peak.”
A staunch blocking effort from Pepperdine kept the home team in the match, but UCLA was able to adjust midway through the second set to maintain its advantage as Speraw subbed sophomore outside hitter JT Hatch out for junior outside hitter Michael Fisher.
“It was an offensive thing,” Speraw said. “At that point we were down again and Fisher’s been great about coming in with great energy, and we needed that right then. He made a big difference emotionally, and we regrouped and finished well that set.”
Hatch tallied a team-high six kills in the first set but found himself on the bench when the Bruins couldn’t find answers for the Waves’ blocking front.
In the third and final set, Pepperdine’s presence at the net all but disappeared and UCLA rolled.
“They were in system a fair amount, and it’s hard to block balls when they’re in system,” said Pepperdine assistant coach David Hunt. “We weren’t siding out as well so we just didn’t have as many opportunities.”
UCLA travels north to face No. 4 Stanford (11-2, 9-2) on Sunday morning in the first meeting of 2016 for the two teams. Speraw said that his team will need to play much better than it did Friday if it wants to take the second match of the weekend. The Bruins swept the Cardinal twice last season.
