On Tuesday night, UCLA stayed undefeated and won their fifth match of the season at UC San Diego in straight sets, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18.

UCLA jumped ahead from the get-go. The Bruins scored the first two points of the first set and the Tritons couldn’t catch up until they went on a 4-0 run after UCLA took a 16-12 lead.

The teams battled back and forth until the Tritons made a service error to give UCLA a 20-19 lead.

But, the Tritons battled back again and tied it at 23-23.

In the second set, UCLA scored the first three points. UCSD struggled to get back into the match and got as close as 1 at 12-11. But UCLA went on a 6-1 run and that pretty much finished off the Tritons in the set as they wouldn’t get any closer than 4 for the rest of the set.

The Bruins were on the verge of their fifth straight sweep of the season as the teams headed into the third set. But, the Tritons had other ideas and they took their first lead of the match at 2-1 in the third and they still led when it was 10-6.

Bruins coach John Speraw called a timeout to regroup and what a regroup it was. The Bruins went on a 9-1 run to take a 15-11 lead and UCLA didn’t allow UCSD to score on consecutive points for the remainder of the set as the Bruins closed out the set and the match to pick up their fifth sweep in five matches.

But, UCLA’s schedule gets tougher starting tonight as they welcome the #8 Penn State Nittany Lions to Pauley Pavilion as part of the AVCA Men’s Volleyball Showcase. The Showcase features #2 UCLA, #13 Southern Cal, #9 Penn State and #3 Ohio State. Ohio State, who will face the Bruins on Saturday, defeated Southern Cal earlier this evening in four sets.

This is your UCLA vs. Penn State Men’s Volleyball open thread.


Go Bruins!!!