Bruins Take Down USC in Fall Tournament

The Bruins men's volleyball opened play in the USC Fall Tournament on Saturday with mixed results. UCLA opened with 0-2 losses to Grand Canyon and Cal State Northridge. The Bruins then came back to hand USC a 2-0 defeat. Long Beach State handed the Bruins a 1-2 setback in the final match of the day.

In the Grand Canyon match, UCLA went down 8-13 in the first set before coming back to trail 20-24. GCU then held on for a 21-25 win. In set two, the Bruins fell behind 8-10 and never regained the lead in a 18-25 loss.

Against Cal State Northridge, UCLA went up 8-7 before the Matadors came back to go up 12-14. CSUN opened up a 12-17 advantage. UCLA ralled to tie the score at 23-all on a block by Jake Reeves.  CSUN then scored the next two points for a 23-25 win over the Bruins. In set two, UCLA owned a 4-3 edge before the Matadors came on to take a 14-17 lead. UCLA closed to 18-20, but fell 21-25.

In the win over the Trojans, UCLA jumped out to a 5-3 lead early. UCLA came back to even things up at 16-all and at 19-all. UCLA used a kill by J.T. Hatch and a block by Hatch, Hagen Smith and Eric Sprague to take a 22-20 advantage. USC knotted it up at 24, before a Michael Fisher cross court spike made it 25-24 and the Bruins took at 26-24 decision.In set two, UCLA went up 5-1 behind some strong play at the net by Hatch and Mitch Stahl. USC came back to cut it to a 9-7 Bruin lead. UCLA then pulled away for a 21-14 advantage displaying a strong block and completed the sweep 25-15.

Against Long Beach State, UCLA went down 6-7 early. The Bruins tied the score at 10-all. Long Beach gradually separated at 17-20. Kills from John Zappia and Jake Arnitz brought the Bruins closer before the 49ers captured a 22-25 win.
In set two, UCLA jumped out to take leads of 6-2 and 9-3. The Bruins expanded the margin to 15-5 and 20-10 before taking the set 25-14.
In set three, the 49ers played well early and led 3-8. UCLA closed to 8-9 and 10-11 behind some strong play from Eric Matheis and Kyle Palmer.  Long Beach then pulled away to win the third set and match 12-15.