MVB Downs Stanford in Four Sets

The No. 9 UCLA men's volleyball team defeated Stanford behind a career-high night from Merrick McHenry in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) match played on Saturday night in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Scores of the contest were 23-25, 25-15, 25-13, 25-21.

McHenry put away 17 kills and added four blocks and an ace in the win. Ian Parish added a career-best 8 kills and 2 service aces for UCLA which out-served Stanford 7 aces to none for the match while holding the Cardinal to an opponent season-low .144 hitting percentage.  The same two teams will battle on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
 
In set one, Stanford broke a 7-all deadlock by scoring four of the next five points to take a 8-11 edge. UCLA rallied to even the score at 15 after an Austin Matautia kill. After another spurt, the Cardinal went up 16-18. Kevin Kobrine's kill pulled UCLA to within one at 17-18. Stanford then added the next three points to open up a 17-21 gap. A couple of errors and a Matautia ace reduced the deficit to 20-21 but that was as close as the Bruins would come. Stanford came away with the set 23-25 after a Bruin net call. The Cardinal capitalized on 10 UCLA service errors in the frame.
 
UCLA opened up a 7-4 gap to begin set two after a Ethan Champlin block, a couple of kills from Matautia and one from Parish capped off a run. Stanford narrowed the margin to 10-7. A series of Cardinal errors helped UCLA up the lead to 17-10. The Bruins still enjoyed a 20-12 advantage after a McHenry kill. A swing from Champlin took the Bruins to set point, at 24-15, and a Parish transition kill ended the set at 25-15. UCLA hit .542 for the set to -.037 for the visitors.
 
In set three, UCLA grabbed leads of 5-2, after an ace by Ketrzynski, and 7-4, after a Matautia swing. Ketrzynski and McHenry kills extended the Bruin lead to 11-6. An ace by Parish lifted the margin to 16-10. A Cardinal net violation, setting miscue and a Matautia ace pushed UCLA into a 22-12 advantage. Ketrzynski's swing made it 24-12 and McHenry put away set point for a 25-13 win.
 
The Cardinal charged out to a 3-8 edge to begin set four. The Bruins used the tough serve of Parish to close to 7-9 after a kill of Matautia. Stanford then opened up a 8-12 advantage. Two kills and a block from McHenry evened the score at 12-each. A Ketrzynski kill pushed UCLA in front 14-13. Back-to-back kills from Parish lifted UCLA to a 17-15 edge. A pair of kills each from both McHenry and Ketrzynski made it 22-18. McHenry's block took UCLA to set point at 24-20. A service error ended the set at 25-21.

Sam Kobrine, who had 10 digs, totaled 49 set assists for the Bruins who hit .385 for the match. The Bruins handled 59 Stanford serve attempts without error with Champlin (23) and Cole Pender (19) leading the way. Parish (.700) and McHenry (.593) combined for 25 kills on 37 swings and two errors out of the Bruin middle attack.