In a very literal match of Rock em’ Sock em’ Robots, UCLA (25-5) brawled its way to a 2-0 lead over Long Beach State (24-7) before delivering the knockout punch in the third set for the sweep.
Despite the fairly one-sided set score, the Bruins squeaked out close victories as sets one and two went to extra points while the third was a bit of a blowout (26-24, 28-26, 25-19).
“We finished off the first two sets quite nicely,” said coach John Speraw. “So that gave us a lot of momentum and energy going into the final set. Honestly though, we ended at 3-0 but those first two sets could’ve gone either way.”
As expected, it was the solid play of the young players that really drove each squad.
BYU sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco was his team’s only real spark, notching a team-high 11 kills.
Meanwhile, sophomore outside hitters JT Hatch and Jake Arnitz and freshman setter Micah Ma’a were the big contributors for UCLA.
Hatch led the team in kills with 14 at a .429 clip. Arnitz put up nine kills of his own while Ma’a supported with eight kills, at a .667 hitting percentage, and 19 assists.
“It was weird because the past two days I wasn’t feeling too great,” Hatch said. “But I got lucky on a couple of hits and it really all just came together tonight.”
Thursday evening’s match was played in the neutral location of Provo, Utah, at Brigham Young University.
Playing at BYU presented some challenges. It’s commonly noted that not only does the light air affect the trajectory of the volleyball, it also limits the amount of oxygen the players can take in – leading to increased fatigue.
Even though the Bruins could see a slight difference in the way the ball flies, they insisted that, in actuality, it isn’t that big of a deal.
“I think most of it is mind over matter, if you think (the altitude) is going to affect your serve, it’s going to affect it more than how it really would have,” said junior middle blocker Mitch Stahl. “(Head athletic performance coach Mike Linn) prepared us so well in the summer, fall and winter to get us conditioned to a point where the altitude doesn’t affect us.”
Despite strong individual performances, both teams’ hitting percentages were not ideal at the start of the match. UCLA improved its hitting percentage as the night wore on while LBSU struggled to answer.
The Bruins started off with a .216 team hitting percentage but after improving in every set, they ended the night at a respectable .314 clip.
The 49ers pretty much stagnated in mediocrity all night, ending the match with a .250 hitting percentage.
Long Beach State is a very defensive oriented team, known for their digging prowess. But on Thursday night, UCLA out-dug their opponents, ending the night with 37 digs compared to the 49ers’ 33 while the blocking numbers were almost even at 7.5 and 7, respectively.
After tonight’s win, UCLA awaits the outcome of the BYU vs. UC Santa Barbara match to see who it will play in the MPSF final.