The UCLA men’s volleyball team secured a comeback victory against Long Beach State on Friday night in Long Beach, California. The Bruins, ranked No. 1, defeated the No. 2-ranked Long Beach State with set scores of 16-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, and 15-10.
UCLA improved its record to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), while handing Long Beach State (8-1) its first loss of the season.
After losing the first two sets, UCLA managed to win the next three. The Bruins limited Long Beach State to a .193 hitting percentage for the match.
Andrew Rowan led UCLA’s offense with 45 assists. Zach Rama contributed 21 kills and Sean Kelly added 14 kills. For Long Beach State, Skyler Varga recorded a team-high of 12 kills.
With the match tied at two sets each, UCLA took an early lead in the fifth set following kills from Rama and Cameron Thorne. After back-to-back aces by Varga tied it at 5-5 for Long Beach State, Decker and Hersh responded with a block that put UCLA ahead again.
Long Beach briefly led at 8-7 before UCLA scored four consecutive points to make it 11-8. A block from Rowan and Hersh followed by another kill from Rama forced a timeout for Long Beach State.
UCLA extended its lead to 13-10 before closing out the match. Rama’s final kill made it 14-10 and Rowan ended the contest with an ace for a final set score of 15-10. In that decisive set, UCLA hit .529 while holding Long Beach State to -.062.
In the fourth set, UCLA built a lead after an attack error by Long Beach State and continued to widen the gap with key plays from Hersh, Rowan, Kelly, and Rama. The Bruins won that set 25-19.
Earlier in the evening, after dropping two sets (16-25 and 22-25), UCLA managed to claim their first set win in the third frame by overcoming a late deficit and finishing on a strong run.
UCLA will play Vanguard University next on Saturday night in Costa Mesa, California. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. PT start time and will be broadcast on B1G+.
