The two-part epic that was UCLA-BYU this weekend quickly turned into a tragedy for the home team.
The No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball team (21-5, 15-5) fell Friday and Saturday nights to No. 3 BYU (21-3, 17-3). Both matches saw a powerful visiting squad claim decisive 3-1 victories in front of sold-out crowds.
The Cougars displayed a fairly even-keeled performance in all of their sets, while the Bruins were far from consistent.
In the first match, UCLA battled hard in sets two and three but seemed completely baffled in sets one and four, as BYU simply overpowered them. And for the first time this season, the Bruins weren’t able to hide who they truly are – a very young team.
“We haven’t played a team like that,” said coach John Speraw. “They’re the best team in the country and significantly more physical in the way they play the game. The interesting thing is that they’re more physical but they’re also better at serving and passing, and you’re not going to win a match if they’re better at serving and passing.”
By the end of the first match, the Bruins had hit at only a .161 clip while compiling 27 attack errors and 15 service errors.
The Cougars also stuffed the Bruins, putting up 16 team blocks – the most blocks any opposing team has had this season.
Despite the loss, there were a few bright spots.
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Oliver Martin had seven kills and hit .500. And, to the cheers of the crowd, junior middle blocker Mitch Stahl returned to the court midway through the match after missing the previous three weeks due to injury.
The veteran leader’s presence was felt instantly, as UCLA went on a run, but the rust of not playing ultimately limited Stahl to just one kill in two sets.
“I feel good, I’m glad to be back in,” Stahl said. “I just wish I could’ve contributed more from the service line and I think I could’ve put more pressure on them this weekend.”
Saturday’s rematch saw marked improvement in the team’s composure and play, despite the repeated four-set loss.
The Bruins saw improvements in all of their positive statistics, but also found themselves on the unfortunate end of 20 service errors.
UCLA’s offense was much more potent on Saturday as sophomore outside hitter JT Hatch led the way with 15 kills.
Fellow sophomore outside hitter Jake Arnitz had nine kills but hit .000 on the night.
The towering outside hitter just could not get anything to go his way and was eventually subbed out for the likes of junior outside hitter Michael Fisher, sophomore opposite Christian Hessenauer or freshman outside hitter Dylan Missry.
One of the highlights of the night – at least for the crowd – was when UCLA was down 24-18 in the final set and Missry came in to serve.
The Bruins clawed and scratched their way back into the set to bring the score within one behind his solid serving effort.
“I was just waiting to be called,” Missry said. “And when I was, I came out, gave it a good toss and hit my serves.”
But it was not to last, as BYU’s leading scorer, sophomore opposite Ben Patch threw down the decisive last kill.
Patch may not have had outstanding games – 15 kills on a .250 hitting percentage and 12 kills at .132 – but his leadership and physicality continuously drove the Cougars forward.
UCLA now drops to a third-place tie with Long Beach State in the MPSF standings, while BYU and Stanford remain tied for first place in the conference entering the last week of the regular season.
