Senior Jonathan Acosta had the best game of his career Saturday
night.
The only thing that would have made it even better was a
win.
Smashing a career-high 29 kills against Pepperdine in the NCAA
men’s volleyball finals, Acosta repeatedly came up with big
plays when the Bruins needed it. However, his dominating
performance was not enough, as UCLA lost in five games to the
Waves.
“Jonathan Acosta played the best I have ever seen him
play,” UCLA coach Al Scates said.
His match-high .523 hitting percentage kept UCLA in the match
when most of the other Bruins were ineffective, hitting a combined
.164.
With the Bruins and Waves splitting the first two games, Acosta
slammed 10 kills in 12 hits (.833) and had three digs to give the
Bruins a 2-1 lead.
And when the Bruins fell behind later in the match, Acosta took
it upon himself to rally his team. In the fifth game, he brought
UCLA back from a 8-1 deficit with three kills and two crucial digs.
His final kill brought the Bruins to within four at 13-9, but they
would get no closer.
“Jonathan had one of the greatest performances I’ve
ever seen,” setter Gaby Acevedo said. “It was the most
important match of the year, and he played great. He was the
captain who not only led with his voice, but he led the team with
his play.”
Throughout the match, Acosta put himself in position to be as
effective as possible, playing on the right side of the court in
order to block Pepperdine’s star player, Sean Rooney. Acosta
tallied eight digs and four total blocks on the night, and his
match-high 29 kills made him UCLA’s biggest offensive
threat.
In the first game, Acosta tallied consecutive points after a
time-out with a kill and a block to cut the Pepperdine lead to
15-12, and finished with six kills in eight swings in that game. He
came up with yet another big play in the fourth game when he hit a
kill after the longest rally of the match, igniting the crowd and
cutting Pepperdine’s lead to two.
However, his impressive stat line mattered little to him without
the win to accompany it.
“Everyone has been telling me that I had a great match,
but it doesn’t mean anything to me,” Acosta said.
“I wanted to win. I was willing to do anything it took to
win, and we didn’t, which is why I am so
disappointed.”
Missing most of last season after having surgery to have his
appendix removed, Acosta returned this year as a strong leader and
contributor to the team.
Pulls in his stomach muscles plagued him throughout the season,
though, and he played sparingly in the last seven matches of the
season, missing two entirely.
Acosta completely recovered before the NCAA Tournament began,
however, and he was able to significantly contribute to the team
again. In addition to his solid play against Pepperdine, Acosta
smashed 16 kills (.500) in the NCAA semifinals against Penn
State.
“I know that a lot of people in Puerto Rico were watching
the game, and they all saw how good Jonathan played,” Acevedo
said. “He may not have gotten a lot of recognition before,
but there are a lot of people all over who know his name
now.”
As he had all season, Acosta did what he had to do to win. On
Saturday, though, the national championship just barely slipped
away from him.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Acosta said.
“We had them down after the third game, but in the fourth
game we just let them back into it.”
“On this team, there are guys who step up all the time. I
knew it was a big match and I would have to play big. I just played
the way I thought I had to in order to win. It’s very
disappointing.”