In the last home match of their collegiate volleyball careers, the departing UCLA seniors wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Against Long Beach State Wednesday night, fourth-ranked UCLA exacted revenge for a five-game loss at Long Beach last February, sweeping the 49ers 30-27, 30-23 and 38-36.
The last regular season match in Westwood recognized the departing seniors: Paul George, Steve Klosterman, Eric Chaghouri, Beau Peters, Brian Schirripa and Matt Susson. A large crowd of 1,059 and the UCLA marching band were all there to wish them farewell.
“The band provides so much environment,” George said. “We didn’t know they were coming so when they started filtering in during warm-ups we were (excited) because they put a good 100 people in the crowd for us. It’s phenomenal. … It’s just so great to have people in the stands and make some noise for us.”
The 49ers came into this match with nothing to lose, as six straight losses had removed them completely from MPSF postseason contention. However, Long Beach State upstaged UCLA in five games on Feb. 28 and, thus, could not be underestimated. But these weren’t the same Bruins they were in February.
“We get a lot better as the season progresses,” coach Al Scates said. “January we’re 4-6, February 4-2, March 4-2; we’re 3-0 and we have to win out here in April.”
Game 1 saw the 49ers take an early lead and hold it, but the Bruins came back and finished them off 30-27.
While Long Beach was not able to put up as strong a fight in Game 2, they came back roaring in Game 3. After the two teams went back and forth all the way to 36 points, the Bruins were finally able to push out an extra two at the end to take the game 38-36 and grab the sweep.
“We made a lot of service errors in Game 3,” Scates said. “We were hitting at a much better clip than they were, but the number of service errors we made kept them in the game. When it came down to crunch time, we were able to get a few more in than they did and won it.”
Senior Steve Klosterman had another great night and led the Bruins with 20 kills, while freshman Garrett Muagututia added 14 of his own. UCLA had 10 team blocks, compared to five by Long Beach. 49ers Paul Lotman and Teddy Liles combined for 28 kills, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the Bruins.
UCSB swept USC Wednesday night at the Galen Center, giving the Gauchos home-court advantage for the first round of the postseason tournament against the Bruins.
“Everything was perfect,” said Klosterman. “We won in three, the band was here, nice crowd; it was fun. It was a good way to go out.”