Bruins Go Down in Five at USC

The No. 12 UCLA men's volleyball team fell in five sets at No. 9 USC in an MPSF match played in the Galen Center on Saturday night. Scores of the Crosstown Cup contest were 25-19, 22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 11-15. UCLA is now 11-9, 7-9 in league action.

J.T Hatch led UCLA with a career-high 25 kills, the most by a Bruin player this season. Oliver Martin came off the bench to spark the Bruins in the final three sets and finished with a career-best total of 14 kills. UCLA hit .272 to USC's .250 and won the total block battle 15.5 to 8.0. Jake Arnitz tied the school record with four straight service aces in set three and finished with a career-best six aces on the night.

After USC grabbed the early lead in set one, the Bruins tied it up at four on a kill by J.T. Hatch. The score was then even all the way up to 11. UCLA took a 12-11 lead on a Christian Hessenauer kill and moved out to a 15-12 lead behind the serve of Arnitz. USC closed to 17-15, but Mitch Stahl provided the next three points of the match with a kill and a pair of aces for a 20-15 edge. Hatch's off-speed shot made it 23-18 and the Bruins came away with a 25-19 win after a Hessenauer block. UCLA outhit the Trojans .346 to .200 and outscored the home team 7.0 to 0.0 in total blocks. Hatch, Stahl and Hessenauer each registered three blocks.

In set two, UCLA broke a 3-all tie with six straight points behind the serve of Trent Kersten to take a 9-3 lead. USC chipped away at the deficit and evened the score at 15-all. UCLA answered on a kill by Hatch and took a 17-15 edge on an ace from Arnitz. The lead moved to 19-16 on a kill by Hessenauer. The Trojans came back to even things up at 22 and went into the lead after back-to-back blocks. The momentum swing stayed with USC which captured the set 22-25. The Bruins hit .049 for the set, with USC taking the block battle 4.0 to 2.5.

Set three was a back-and-forth affair with the score tied at each point up to 11-all. UCLA went up 12-11 after a service error and 13-11 on a kill by Arnitz. The Bruins would not trail again. An Arnitz kill made it 15-12 and four straight aces from Arnitz pushed the margin to 23-13 on the way to a 25-14 win. The Bruins hit .462 to the USC total of .118. The four consecutive service aces from Arnitz tied the school record set by Adam Naeve in a 2001 match vs. Pepperdine. Martin entered the match and recorded four kills in the set.

USC moved to an early lead in set four. The Bruins tied the score at 6-all. An Arnitz ace made it 10-9 for the Bruins. The score was then tied at points 10 thru 15. The Trojans scored the next two points for a 15-17 edge. A kill from Martin evened the score at 20-each. Another Martin kill tied the score at 21. USC tallied the next three points for a 21-24 advantage and took the set 22-25. The Trojans outhit the Bruins .440 to .364 in the set.

USC opened the final set by taking a 3-5 advantage. UCLA sliced the lead to 5-6 on Hatch's 24^th kill of the match, but the Trojans scored the next two points. The Trojans built the margin up to 7-11. A couple of Martin kills cut the deficit to 8-11 and again to 9-12. After USC went up 9-13, Arnitz made it 10-13 with a kill and Hatch's kill, after an outstanding dig by Hessenauer, closed the gap to 11-13. USC scored the final two points of the match for the win.

The Bruins will return to the court on Monday night when they host top-ranked Hawai'I at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. The same two teams will also play on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Pauley.