Last weekend, the No. 1 BYU men’s volleyball team proved that they were too much for UCLA to handle, sweeping the Bruins quickly on Saturday night in Provo, Utah.
In the beginning of the first set, UCLA took the lead after a kill from junior middle blocker Spencer Rowe.
However, this lead was short-lived and the Cougars took control of the match. The Bruins struggled with hitting early on, and after their fifth error, they fell behind 16-12.
UCLA managed to come back and tie the game at 22 but consecutive blocks by BYU and a kill from opponent Taylor Sander finished off the set.
UCLA fell behind in set two when BYU came out strong and jumped out to 5-4 lead. After the longest rally of the match, the Cougars managed to take the lead 9-7. UCLA’s coach John Speraw called a timeout when the score was at 12-8, and again one at 19-12. However, even that did not slow down BYU’s momentum. The set ended with a service error by UCLA.
The third set was tight and both teams rallied back and forth. UCLA took the lead early on after a kill from redshirt senior left Scott Vegas. BYU regained the lead after a service ace from opponent Russ Lavaja.
Another kill from Vegas and an error by BYU tied the game 23-23 late in the third set. However, another UCLA hitting error gave BYU the set and the match. UCLA finished with 19 hitting errors.
Junior outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga led the Bruins with 11 kills and Rowe added nine kills to that. Freshman setter Steve O’Dell finished up with 18 assists.
UCLA has now dropped its last two matches on the road, as the loss to BYU came after a loss to Cal Baptist on Thursday night.
UCLA will return home to play back-to-back matches against Hawai’i on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
Compiled by Young Rae Kim, Bruin Sports contributor.