#2 UCLA Men’s Volleyball Sweeps Princeton; Hosts UCSD Tonight

Tonight, the UCLA men’s volleyball team welcomes the UCSD Tritons to the John Wooden Center for a match at 7 pm PT.

Last Time Out

On Thursday night, UCLA opened their season with a sweep of the Princeton Tigers, 25-17, 26-24, 25-18. Junior transfer Brandon Rattray led the Bruins with 15 kills and 9 digs, just missing a double-double. Micah Ma’a added 30 digs.

The Bruins jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and really never looked back. The Tigers closed the gap to two points twice. Once was when they scored the fourth point of the set, making it 3-1, and the other was at 13-11. That’s as close at Princeton got in the first set as UCLA cruised to a 25-17 set win.

The second set was tougher. With the Bruins up 2-1, the Tigers went on a 7-1 run to make it 8-3. The teams split the next 14 points and Princeton still led by five, 15-10. A 7-1 run by UCLA gave the Bruins their first lead since 2-1. After the Tigers tied it 17-17, the teams split the next 12 points and the set was tied 23-23. A Micah Ma’a service error gave Princeton their one and only set point of the match, but the Tigers couldn’t convert it into a set win. Austin Matautia tied it up for the Bruins while Rattray put UCLA ahead, 25-24. A block from Dylan Missry and Daenan Gyimah wrapped the set up for the Bruins, 26-24.

After the first 19 points of set three, UCLA had the edge, 10-9. That’s when the Bruins went on an 8-2 run to take an 18-11 lead. From that point on, Princeton wasn’t able to get any closer than five point down and UCLA went on to win the set, 25-18, to complete the sweep of the Tigers.

UC San Diego Tritons

Last night, UCSD opened their season with a match at Pepperdine. The Tritons were swept, 25-21, 25-18, 25-18. Redshirt junior Xander Jimenez led the Tritons with 10 kills, but his hitting percentage was just .190. Junior Connor Walbrecht added 28 assists for UCSD.

Outlook

Tonight’s match should be as easy as Thursday’s match against Princeton. Look for another sweep by the Bruins.

This is your UCLA men’s volleyball vs. UCSD Tritons open thread.


Go Bruins!