The UCLA men’s volleyball team took on opposite extremes of the powerful Mountain Pacific Sports Federation over the weekend, and everything unfolded according to expectations.
The Bruins traveled to Northern California, where they were unable to stop the defending NCAA champion Stanford, but easily dealt with Pacific, the conference’s last-place team.
The No. 8 Bruins (9-9, 4-8 MPSF) started their road trip against the No. 4 Cardinal (12-4, 9-4) on Friday in Palo Alto.
Because of the dual threat of junior outside hitter Brad Lawson and senior outside hitter Spencer McLachlin, Stanford controlled most of the first set.
The two hitters both wreaked havoc with 18 and 19 kills in the match, respectively.
But UCLA held on, and junior quick hitter Thomas Amberg came through with two crucial kills to tie the set at 24-24.
The Cardinal managed to snag the set 26-24, but the Bruins looked like a new team in the next one, never trailing and earning a 25-21 win.
Stanford came back hard in the third and fourth sets, where efficient passing kept its hitters unstoppable.
After 25-22 and 25-17 set wins, the Cardinal quelled any hopes the Bruins had of an upset.
With 12 games left before postseason, the Bruins are aware that urgency is now a priority.
“We’re at a crossroads now, where if we want to make the playoffs and become a championship team, we need to play better,” Amberg said.
Freshman outside hitters Gonzalo Quiroga and Robart Page led the Bruins in kills with 16 and 14, respectively.
Opposite hitter Spencer Rowe completed a trio of impressive freshmen.
“They all made a good contribution,” coach Al Scates said. “Not enough to win, but the future is going to be good for us.”
The juniors had their turn a day later against No. 15 Pacific (6-11, 2-9).
Redshirt junior quick hitter Weston Dunlap led his squad to a 3-0 win against the Tigers. Dunlap ended up hitting .611 for 14 kills, Amberg had 10 kills, and junior setter Kyle Caldwell added 11 kills and five digs.
The Bruins won a two-point swing to take the first set 25-23.
Things only got easier for them as the night went on; they held on to big leads and won the next two sets 25-19 and 25-15.
“We definitely came out hard,” Dunlap said. “They just crumbled, and the game just got progressively easier.”
The victory was only UCLA’s second in its last nine matches.
After suffering against the nation’s most talented players, the team found its dominant performance refreshing.
“It was a shame to see the match end,” Scates said with a laugh. “I was just starting to have a good time.”