Men’s volleyball snaps road losing streak with win at UCSB
By Blair Angulo
March 16, 2009 10:03 p.m.
For the time being, the road seems surmountable.
After season-long troubles, the UCLA men’s volleyball team shook off its road woes Friday night, beating UC Santa Barbara in four sets, 25-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-27 in Santa Barbara.
The victory was an important one for a Bruin team looking to improve its play away from Pauley Pavilion. Heading into Friday night’s match, UCLA was 1-7 on the road. The Bruins (9-12, 5-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) had lost four consecutive MPSF road matches against Cal State Northridge, UC San Diego, USC and Pepperdine. Before those four matches, UCLA also dropped road games to UC Irvine and Long Beach State.
After the Gauchos (6-13, 3-12) won the first set Friday night, it seemed like the Bruins were heading towards a familiar result.
But UCSB struggled to infiltrate strong Bruin blocking from then on. Aside from the Gauchos’ sophomore outside hitter Jeff Menzel, who had a game-high 26 kills, UCLA held the rest of UCSB’s players to just 23 kills.
Unlike Menzel, UCLA’s redshirt freshman opposite Jack Polales, who registered 17 kills, had help. Freshman quick hitter Thomas Amberg, junior outside hitter Garrett Muagututia, and senior opposite Sean O’Malley contributed to UCLA’s victory by combining for 34 kills. The Bruins outhit the Gauchos .342 to .161.
The Bruins hope the road victory is just a sign of things to come. The team next travels to Utah to face Brigham Young on Mar. 27 and 28.
