After a long home stand, the UCLA men’s volleyball team kicked off its roadtrip with a thrilling five-set victory over UC Irvine Saturday.
The 26-30, 30-18, 35-33, 20-30, 17-15 win over the No. 11 Anteaters (11-12, 6-10) was the first of five matches that the No. 7 Bruins (14-9, 9-7) will play on the road. The Bruins were able to come up with a win with the help of hard serves, improved digging and a career day for sophomore quick hitter Thomas Amberg.
After dropping a close first set, the Bruins stormed out to a 9-3 lead in the second and maintained their lead throughout the set. Coach Al Scates mentioned his team’s .533 hitting clip in the second as a major factor.
“The second set, we were just hitting so well, I mean, everybody hit well,” Scates said. “We had that one game where we hit .533, and we could have beaten anybody.”
After their dominant second set win, the Bruins won a tight third set despite hitting only .192. Down 32-33 in the third, a service error by UCI sophomore opposite Carson Clark tied the set, and UCLA senior setter Kevin Ker hit one of his four service aces to give the Bruins the lead. Senior outside hitter Garrett Muagututia and Amberg teamed up for a block to win the set.
Scates rested some starters in the fourth, and the team hit 12 kills with 12 errors, for a zero hitting clip in the set. He credited UCI’s digging as a cause of his team’s offensive struggles.
The Bruins came back in the final set. After UCLA grabbed the lead, the Anteaters tied up the set at nine and got to within one point away from winning the match, up 14-13. A service error by UCI sophomore outside hitter Kevin Carroll tied the set, and Muagututia hit a kill to give the Bruins the lead. After a UCI block tied the set again, UCLA redshirt sophomore opposite Jack Polales recorded a kill to put the Bruins up 16-15. Muagututia then recorded another kill to win the match.
Both teams had up-and-down hitting performances. The Bruins hit .243 overall, and the Anteaters hit .261 for the match. UCI hit more than .400 in the first and fourth sets but hit only .077 in the second and .160 in the fifth.
Though the teams may have been inconsistent, Amberg hit extremely well throughout the match, finishing with 23 kills and a .500 clip. He also added five block assists. Scates praised Amberg for his performance.
“I thought that Thomas Amberg played the best game of his young career,” Scates said. “We went to him 36 times, which is very unusual for a quick hitter to get that amount of sets. He had 23 kills, was really a presence in the middle tonight.”
Scates also highlighted his team’s digging during the match. The Bruins recorded 58 digs, and Polales, whose digging Scates said has improved, led the team with 16.
“We’ve been working really hard at digging, ball-handling,” Scates said.
The team’s serving game was another source of production for the Bruins. Muagututia and Ker each hit four aces, and sophomore quick hitter Nick Vogel added one to give the Bruins a total of nine service aces for the match.