The No. 8-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team couldn’t find the magic to defeat No. 1 UCLA Wednesday night at the John Wooden Center.
LBSU (8-8, 4-7 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) was swept, 18-25, 20-25, 21-25, by UCLA, who the ‘Niners had defeated earlier in the season.
Since LBSU defeated the Bruins, UCLA has gone on an astounding 12 set winning streak.
Senior Jim Baughman paced the ‘Niners attack with a match-high 13 kills on a .478 clip. However, Ryan Meehan was the only other LBSU player who had a positive hitting percentage.
“We didn’t have anybody else playing nearly well enough on the floor for us,” said head coach Andy Read.
LBSU hit only a .141 clip as a team and had a season low of only 28 kills.
Senior Nick Vogel led the Bruins attack with 7 kills on a .333 clip
LBSU seemed to crumble under the pressures of the John Wooden Center, a temporary home for the UCLA men’s volleyball team while Pauley Pavilion undergoes renovations.
The John Wooden Center seats 1800 people and has bleachers that put the crowd a mere 6 feet away from the action. The UCLA crowd made sure their presence was known by shouting numerous insults that seemed to rock the ‘Niners more than anticipated.
“We got to be better than that,” said Read. “We’re going to be on the road again Friday.”
Setter Connor Olbrigh, who averages 38 assists per game, came up with just 26 in Wednesday night’s contest.
The match started off with both teams trading points until a four-point UCLA run capped by a Kyle Caldwell kill put the Bruins up 7-3.
LBSU was held to single digit kills in the first set with only nine and just a .138 hitting percentage.
Dunlap, Vogel, and senior Thomas Amberg chipped in three kills a piece to help UCLA to an easy first set victory.
The usually solid Jeff Ornee was benched after hitting two errors on three attempts in the first set for junior Colten Echave.
The second set was more competitive, but with the score tied 15-15 UCLA went on two 3-point runs to put the set out of reach for LBSU and go up two sets to none.
Despite a close second set the ‘Niners only put up 8 kills and worsened their hitting percentage to .136.
Two early kills by junior Trevor Crabb seemed to show life in the LBSU offense. Crabb had come in during the second set for struggling senior Brad Hemmerling.
UCLA, however, would answer Crabb’s attacks with a 5-point run that proved the dominance of the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
LBSU posted their best attack in the third and final set by getting 11 kills but it was only on .148 hitting, the best they did all night.
LBSU must now prepare themselves to travel out to No. 11 UC Santa Barbara on Friday. LBSU defeated UCSB earlier in the season 3-1. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.