Few things could completely ruin a Senior Night – besides being defeated in straight sets, that might do it.
By those standards, the No. 4 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team (20-5, 14-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will have to come to terms with losing both its first place standing in the conference and dropping its last regular season home match in such a fashion to No. 2 UCLA (21-3, 15-3).
In three tales of two halves, the 49ers jumped out to early – albeit small – leads in every set. The Bruins would, however, battle back to close out those differences each time.
Eventually UCLA’s superior offense and staunch front-line defense overpowered Long Beach State and led the visitors to 25-22 wins in all three sets.
This narrative was far different from two months ago when the two volleyball juggernauts first met.
During the first matchup, the 49ers jumped out to a 2-0 set lead only for the Bruins to battle back for an eventual five-set victory. The 49ers’ freshman outside hitter TJ DeFalco notched what was then a career-high 21 kills in the January match.
This time DeFalco was held to a more humble 10 kills at a .364 clip.
“It really started with our serve and we did a nice job defensively,” said coach John Speraw. “A big part was our backcourt defense, which is traditionally a strength of Long Beach’s. So I thought we were able to match their defensive intensity pretty well.”
For UCLA, there were two major similarities and one key difference between the two matches against the team’s conference foe.
The two similarities were the numbers of sophomore outside hitters Jake Arnitz and JT Hatch, as both continued solid performances with 16 and 10 kills, respectively, compared to their 17 and nine kill performances prior.
The difference was a big one though. Junior middle blocker Mitch Stahl, who had a solid eight kills and five block assists in January, was absent from Saturday’s lineup. It was the second match in a row that he sat out, as he missed UCLA’s five-set victory against Cal State Northridge on Thursday night.
“(Stahl) is hurt,” Speraw said. “I’m not sure how much I can say about it, we’re optimistic that he’ll come back soon and he’s looking good.”
Stahl, who was wearing a protective boot two weeks ago, remains sidelined, but the veteran’s absence hasn’t seemed to hamper the Bruins with the emergence of redshirt sophomore middle blocker Eric Sprague.
Sprague, who has stepped up in recent matches, played an integral part Saturday, providing the Bruins with length and surprising offensive power.
The middle blocker tallied eight kills on a resounding .800 hitting percentage to go with three block assists.
“It’s been a lot of hard work, but I feel like I’ve stepped up to the challenge well,” Sprague said. “Mitch has been very supportive all throughout and it’s been great hearing the positive feedback and tips he’s been giving me. Everyone’s been very supportive and it’s a lot of fun.”
The Bruins have now won eight matches in a row – the longest streak in the MPSF – and are powering into the toughest stretch of their season.
“It’s great,” Arnitz said. “Playing the best teams in our conference is great because from here on out our practices and our focus will have to be that much better to prepare for playoffs.”
