No. 1 men’s volleyball swept away by Waves
By Leonardo Villalobos
Feb. 6, 2014 12:50 a.m.
The Bruins were blocked from reaching their 10th straight win. Literally.
The No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball team (9-2, 6-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) saw its kill attempts blocked time and time again Wednesday night as No. 3 Pepperdine (6-1, 6-1) dominated defensively to end the Bruins’ nine-game win streak and undefeated conference run.
Pepperdine did something that UCLA had been doing with ruthless efficiency so far this season: starting fast. The first set was over in a heartbeat, as the Waves took a 10-3 lead and never looked back. Pepperdine’s blockers dominated the battle against UCLA’s attackers, often leaving the Bruin hitters shaking their heads and looking for answers.
“They’re really efficient with their blocking, and the other thing is that they dig a ton of balls – I think they might lead the country in digs right now,” said senior outside hitter Robart Page. “We got outplayed tonight … but it was good to see what teams will try to do in the future to stop our offense.”
After face-planting in the first set, the Bruins seemed to come out with a purpose in the second and took a 3-0 lead. It turned out to be mirage, however, as the pattern from the first set quickly reemerged: Pepperdine serve, UCLA set, UCLA kill attempt, Pepperdine block. It was a pattern that the Bruins never really figured out how to stop, as they were swept in a lightning-quick 76-minute match.
“They just played really fast. We got out of our rhythm and we weren’t executing offensively the way we usually do,” said senior middle blocker Spencer Rowe. “Without the offense that we’re used to generating, we had to figure out a different way to play … and that cost us.”
Perhaps a performance like this was overdue for the Bruins. Every team is bound to have its clocks cleaned at least once in the tough MPSF. The Bruins had been the ones blowing teams off the court throughout the first few weeks of the season – it was a level of play that was going to be difficult to maintain.
“We knew that even though we were No. 1 that we weren’t an unbeatable team,” said senior outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga. “Anybody can beat anyone in this league, especially those top three or four teams.”
Perhaps a performance like this was not just overdue – it might actually be beneficial. For almost a month now, UCLA had been trying to improve under the umbrella of winning, which naturally may not spark the highest levels of urgency. Now the Bruins have a rare opportunity to look at their inefficiencies from a losing perspective.
“We got humbled. We had a nice streak going and we were doing really well, but it’s good to see what we still have a lot to improve on,” Page said.
Time will tell whether this loss was just a blip on the radar or a sign of things to come. With what the Bruins have done so far this season, all signs seem to point to the former.
