The UCLA Men’s Volleyball team started the season off the right way on Wednesday with a sweep of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, 25-17, 25-22, 25-20. Tonight, they welcome the King University Tornado to the Wooden Center as part of this weekend’s Wooden Classic. Yes, you should probably expect another sweep.

King University is a small private university in Bristol, TN. King’s enrollment is less than 3,000 students and the school is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Their mascot is Twister the Lion. That’s probably more than you wanted to know about King University, but that’s ok. Here at Bruins Nation we go to the ends of Wikipedia to provide you with the info you need to watch your Bruins!

Tonight’s game is King’s first game of the season.

Let’s quickly recap Wednesday’s game against NJIT. In the first set, the Bruins jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and NJIT couldn’t catch up. After stretching the lead to 7-3, UCLA went on a 8-1 run to make it 15-4. UCLA took their foot off the gas a little and soon it was 22-12. The Highlanders went on a 5-1 run of their own and the Bruins led 23-17. Christian Hessenauer put away the final two points as the Bruins closed out the set.

In the second set, the teams actually split the first four points to tie the set at 2-2. With a 6-5 lead, UCLA went on a 5-1 run. The teams split the next twenty-two points and UCLA led 22-17. NJIT scored the next three points to cut the Bruins’ lead to just two. The back-and-forth resumed, however, and UCLA had their first set point at 24-22. An NJIT attack error put this set into UCLA’s column.

NJIT actually led twice early in the third set. The Highlanders scored the first point of the set to take a 1-0 lead and then they led again at 4-3. But, those would be the only two NJIT leads of the entire match. The teams were tied 8 times in the early going of this set and it was 11-11. The Bruins went on a 4-0 to make it 15-11. From that point on the closest the Highlanders could get would be two twice at 15-13 and 16-14. UCLA stretched their lead back to four as they cruised through the rest of the set to take set three and the match.

This is your UCLA vs. King University open thread.


Go Bruins!!!