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Friday, April 10
Los Angeles, CA
8:00 PM

UCLA

1
vs
3

UC Irvine

Trent Kersten and J.T. Hatch on Block
Photo by: UCLA Athletics

Bruins Aced by UC Irvine in Four Sets

April 11, 2015 | Men's Volleyball

The No. 12 UCLA men's volleyball team lost to No. 4 UC Irvine in four sets in an MPSF match played on Friday night in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the match were 19-25,25-21,21-25,20-25. UCLA is now 11-13 overall and 7-13 in MPSF action.The Bruins will return to the court on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion against UC San Diego in the final home contest of the season. It will be Senior Night for Clayton Paullin and Trent Kersten who will be honored in a brief ceremony prior to the match.

Jake Arnitz led UCLA with 15 kills, two aces and a .353 hitting percentage. Mitch Stahl added a career-best 13 kills, hit .667 and recorded a service ace for the 10th straight match. J.T. Hatch was also in double figures in kills with 11. Kersten chipped in with four kills, two block assists and two block solos. The Bruins hit .381 for the match, but could not overcome 21 service errors. Irvine hit .429 on the night and also had trouble with the serve as they totaled 20 service errors. UCLA won the total blocks battle 5.0 to 3.0. Eric Matheis had 46 set assists.

In set one, UC Irvine raced out to a 6-13 lead. UCLA slowly worked on the deficit, cutting the gap to 17-22 on an ace from Arnitz and then 18-22 after a block from Kersten. The 'Eaters answered and took away a 19-25 win. The Bruins had eight service errors, but out hit UCI .440 to .320 in the set.

UCLA moved out to a 4-0 advantage early in set two. UCI caught the home team at 4-all. UCLA pulled out to a 12-9 lead after a Kersten kill. Irvine came back to even the score at 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. The Bruins took the lead for good on a Stahl and Hatch block and earned the win on a Hatch kill. Michael Fisher came  through with some tough serving down the stretch to help the Bruins pull out the set.

There were 14 ties in set three. UC Irvine broke a 14-all tie with a four-point run. UCLA cut the margin to 19-21 after a Christian Hessenauer kill, but could not get closer. Irvine hit .552 for the set.

UC Irvine broke a 7-all tie in set four with a four-point run. UCLA narrowed the margin to 14-17 after another Hessenauer kill and 17-20 following a kill by Arnitz. Stahl's career-high 13th kill made it 19-22, but the Bruins could not find any further answers and UCI won 20-25.