MVB Downed by Waves
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The No. 8 UCLA men's volleyball team (now 9-4 on the year) had its four-match win streak snapped by No. 4 Pepperdine on Saturday night in Malibu in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contest in Firestone Fieldhouse. Scores of the match were 26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 22-25. The Waves, now 8-3, out hit the Bruins .291 to .231 and won the battle of the blocks 14.0 to 10.5 on the way to the win. Cole Ketrzynski led three Bruins in double-digit kills with 15.
In set one, Pepperdine moved out to a 6-8 lead. UCLA answered with a 5-0 run behind the serve of Ian Parish. The Bruins grew the margin to 15-11 on kills by Ketrzynski and Merrick McHenry. A series of Wave errors put UCLA in charge at 19-12. However, Pepperdine came all the way back to even the score at 21-all. A pair of kills by Austin Matautia pushed UCLA in front 23-21. The Waves tied the score at 23 and then at 24. Ethan Champlin followed up a kill by McHenry with a cross court smash for the 26-24 win.
The Waves went up 3-6 early in set two. After UCLA closed to 8-10, Pepperdine went on a big run to expand the gap to 10-18. The Bruins cut the deficit to 16-20 after a Parish kill, but the Waves finished the job for a 21-25 win.
Pepperdine grabbed an early 4-6 advantage in set three. UCLA rebounded to even the score at 8-all on a Champlin swing. A Wave run put the home team up 10-14. The Bruins narrowed the margin to 14-15 with Ketrzynski, McHenry and Alex Knight teaming up for a big block during the run. The next three points went to the Waves, but UCLA rallied to level the score at 21-all on a Sam Kobrine kill. A Knight kill put UCLA up 22-21, but Pepperdine scored four of the next five points for a 23-25 win.
Set four swung back-and-forth in the early going before the teams settled for a 9-all tie. The Waves then opened up a 10-12 edge. UCLA closed to 14-15 and 17-18 after a couple of kills by Ketrzynski. Pepperdine then scored three of the next four points for a 18-21 lead. A Daniel Matheney kill narrowed the gap to 21-23. Champlin followed with a kill, off of a set assist from Matheney, to make it 22-23. Pepperdine used a service error and a block to take the set 22-25.
The Bruins will take a 10-day break before returning the court at Stanford on Mar. 23. The next UCLA home match is April 9 vs. BYU.