No. 8 UCLA men’s volleyball wins fifth straight match in thrilling 3-2 victory over Loyola-Chicago

If TNT really thinks that it know drama, it should take a hard look at picking up coverage of the UCLA men’s volleyball team. The Bruins’ thrilling 3-2 victory over the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers was UCLA’s third consecutive five-set match.

“Playing five-set matches can be very tiring both mentally and physically,” said freshman outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga, who finished with 18 kills on the night. “But we keep on winning them. Why stop?”

The No. 8 Bruins (13-9), who are now riding a five-game win streak, were sluggish at the start of the match, understandable considering their recent run of five-set matches including huge victories over No. 5 Long Beach State and No. 10 Penn State.

After a 26-24 first-set victory by the Ramblers, the Bruins came out in the second set with a bit more passion, partially due to some of the talk by Loyola’s Joseph Smalzer, who did quite a bit of taunting in the first set when he had four kills and an ace.

UCLA responded with some powerful kills from redshirt junior quick hitter Weston Dunlap, one of which included a stare directed at Smalzer that incited referee intervention.

Following a Dunlap ace that put the Bruins up 14-11, UCLA didn’t look back, easily winning the set 25-18.

“We really don’t like to do a lot of talking on the court,” redshirt junior setter Alex Scattareggia said. “But we had to do a little bit when (Smalzer) came out in warm-ups talking trash. It got us pretty fired up.”

Loyola responded quickly in the third set to go up 10-9, but UCLA made a huge run, highlighted by a dig by senior libero Tom Hastings, which led to a monster kill from Dunlap to put UCLA up 14-10.

“Wes was just unstoppable,” Scattareggia said. “Even late in the game when Gonzalo got going, they were still committing to Wes every time.”

After dropping the third set, UCLA rose to the occasion in the fourth, which can be attributed mainly to the dominant play of Quiroga. The Argentinean wonder delivered seven kills during the set with a variety of shots.

“He was seeing the block and the court so well,” coach Al Scates said. “When it was a good block, he could still find a spot to put the ball.”

UCLA won 25-20 to force a final set, in which Quiroga continued his stellar play by killing the first two balls of the game. The Bruins kept pushing forward behind Quiroga’s five fifth-set kills, and UCLA finished off Loyola-Chicago 15-8.

The Bruins have only eight games left in the regular season, and one of those games will have more weight than the others.

UCLA will take on No. 7 UC Irvine on March 24 in what will be the last athletic event held at Pauley Pavilion before the renovation.

Pauley holds significant history for the Bruins, as nine of UCLA’s 19 men’s volleyball titles were won in the building.