With the UCLA men’s volleyball team’s season-ending loss to UC Irvine on Saturday, the careers of five seniors also came to a close.
These same seniors were part of the 2006 national championship team as freshmen but were unable to reach that pinnacle again.
“I got my ring freshman year, but it just made me more ambitious,” senior setter Matt Wade said. “I’ve never really stopped working.”
Along with Wade, opposites Sean O’Malley and Ryan Ratelle and redshirt quick hitters D.J. Stromath and Jamie Diefenbach all suited up in Bruin uniforms for the last time on Saturday.
The seniors’ last game came in a loss to top-ranked UC Irvine in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. The Bruins came into the match in the No. 8 spot and found themselves overmatched by the No. 1 seed Anteaters.
The Bruins struggled with serving in the game, recording 22 service errors with only two aces.
By playing well near the end of the regular season, UCLA was able to slip into the tournament as the No. 8 seed. Yet the upset over UC Irvine never materialized.
“At this point in the season, where every match could be the last, you start considering that idea (ending your career),” O’Malley said. “It’s a little anticlimactic.”
BRUIN BLACKOUT: At the Bren Events Center, the Bruins found themselves in front of a raucous 2,005-person crowd. The Anteater home crowd was wearing black “”˜Eater Nation” shirts for the occasion and did their best to try and rattle the Bruins. But according to Bruins, crowd noise was not a factor.
“I don’t think they were anything out of the ordinary. We’ve played against crazy crowds before,” Wade said. “The crowd really didn’t have too much of an effect on us. If any of those things affected us, it’d be playing away from home.”
UCLA struggled all season away from Pauley Pavilion, winning only eight out of 21 on the road, compared to 12 out of 17 in Westwood.
MPSF TOURNAMENT: In other action from the conference tournament, No. 5 USC erased a two-set deficit to take down No. 4 Stanford in five sets, 20-30, 27-30, 30-27, 30-24, 15-11.
No. 2 Pepperdine defeated No. 7 Long Beach State in Malibu in four sets, 30-28, 30-25, 23-30, 30-27.
No. 3 Cal State Northridge knocked out No. 6 Brigham Young in four games, 30-26, 30-24, 27-30, 30-27.