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Wednesday, February 21
Los Angeles, CA
7:30 PM

UCLA

1
vs
3

Long Beach State

Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA

MVB Downed by No. 1 Long Beach

February 21, 2018 | Men's Volleyball


The No. 2-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team registered the best opponent hitting percentage of the season, .315, against  top-ranked Long Beach State, but it was not enough to stop the 49ers in a non-league four-set decision played in Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night. Scores of the match were 21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 21-25. UCLA, which was led by freshman Grant Maleski's 13 kills, suffered its first home loss of the season and is now 14-3 on the year. The Bruins head to play a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday night at No. 10 Pepperdine. Long Beach State upped its record to 14-0 after hitting .408 for the match.
 
UCLA jumped out to a 5-3 edge early in set one. Long Beach came back to tie the score at points 5, 6, 7 and 8. Back-to-back kills by the 49ers put the visitors up 8-10. Kills by Dylan Missry and Maleski evened the score at 10. Long Beach quickly went back in front by two only to see UCLA tie it up on kills by Micah Ma'a and Daenan Gyimah. The 49ers separated with four straight points to pull out to a 12-16 advantage. UCLA closed to one at 16-17 on a JT Hatch kill and then at 18-19 after another Hatch kill. However, the Beach ripped off the next three points for an 18-22 margin and went on to take the first set 21-25. Long Beach hit .500 for the set.
 
Long Beach grabbed the early lead at 4-8 in set two. The Bruins battled back to get within one at 10-11 on a kill by Missry. Kills by Maleski and Martin tied the score at 13-all. A sharp-angle cross-court smash by Hatch put the Bruins in the lead at 14-13. After the score was tied at 14 and 15-all, UCLA scored three straight on a kill by Oliver Martin, an ace by Hatch and a Beach error to go up 18-15. Another Maleski kill made it 22-18. Long Beach narrowed the margin to 22-21 after a block. A Hatch kill moved UCLA to set point and the senior then delivered the winner for a 25-23 win. The Bruins hit .412 for the set, with Maleski totaling six kills.
 
The third set was a series of runs. After Long Beach took a 1-3 lead, UCLA answered with six straight points behind the serve of Ma'a for a 7-3 advantage. The Beach then ran off the next six points to regain the lead at 7-9. A Missry kill snapped the run and the Bruins tied the score on a Maleski kill off hands. The score was even at points 10 and 11. After Long Beach went in front 13-15, UCLA rebounded with four straight on a pair of Missry kills sandwiched around a couple of errors for a 17-15 lead. The next five kills went to Long Beach State and the 49ers moved ahead 17-20. UCLA stopped the run on a Gyimah kill, but Long Beach responded with a kill and their first ace for an 18-22 advantage. A service error and another ace made it 18-24 before Long Beach ended the set with a kill at the net for a 19-25 win.The visitors hit .395 for the set to .216 for the Bruins.
 
Long Beach opened up a 2-5 lead to start the fourth set. UCLA ran off the next three points and tied the score after a big swing from Jake Arnitz. The 49ers grabbed a series of two-point leads before the Bruins put three straight together to emerge with a 14-13 lead following a hitting error by the 49ers. UCLA moved in front 17-15 after a dig by Ian Parish set up a Hatch kill. Long Beach rallied to take an 18-19 edge but UCLA tied it on a spike from Hatch. Long Beach tallied the next four points to go up 19-23 on a couple of kills, an ace and a Bruin error. Maleski hit the line for a point to make it 20-23. Long Beach State closed out the match with a couple of kills for a 21-25 win.
 
Hatch tied Maleski for top honors with 13 kills (.379) and matched his season-best with 10 digs. Missry added 11 kills and Martin totaled eight kills (.583) and two blocks. Ma'a led UCLA with a season-best 11 digs to go along with 49 set assists. UCLA hit over .300 in two of the four sets and won the blocking battle 8.0 to 7.0 for the match, but Long Beach had 11 more kills on the same number of total attacks.