Men’s volleyball secures 2 straight victories to start the season

This post was updated Jan. 5 at 9:22 p.m.

The Bruins are undefeated through their first two games.

No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (2-0) swept both Daemen College (0-1) on Thursday and George Mason (0-1) on Saturday to start its season.

The Bruins beat the Wildcats by scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-17. They held the hosts to a -.081 hitting percentage while hitting for a clip of .383 themselves.

UCLA then went on to beat George Mason by scores of 25-22, 30-28 and 25-23, again outhitting its opponent .299 to .177. The Patriots had three chances to win the second set but kills by redshirt senior middle blocker Matt Younggren and freshman setter Mads Kyed Jensen kept the Bruins in the set until senior middle blocker Daenan Gyimah clinched the set for UCLA with a kill of his own.

Gyimah led the Bruins with 12 kills and hit .381 against the Patriots. He said his connection to Kyed Jensen helped UCLA close out the tight sets.

“They weren’t putting enough service pressure,” Gyimah said. “We were passing perfectly and we have a 6-foot-10 setter. No one’s really going to stop our offense especially when they can’t block the middle of the court.”

Gyimah leads the Bruins with 17 kills through their first two games, with freshman outside hitter Alex Knight just behind him with 15. Knight led the Bruins with six kills against Daemen College and then accumulated nine more against George Mason. Knight said his early success can be attributed to the system he’s worked out with Gyimah and Kyed Jensen.

“I think (my success) is from the connection with (Kyed Jensen),” Knight said. “(He) puts me in opportunities to get kills, and, to make it easier on me; I also have (Gyimah) in the game. He’s a huge threat coming up the middle. The other teams want to camp on him a little bit. It opens me up a lot.”

After starting each of the past three years, Gyimah said being a senior has grown his understanding of the team.

“I have more experience,” Gyimah said. “I have more confidence in my knowledge of where we are skillwise and what we’re going to need to do to win a national championship.”

Coach John Speraw said he likes UCLA’s roster composition with its mix of experience and youth.

“I’ve learned that I like my team,” Speraw said. “They’re competing really well. We’ve got some really nice senior players. We’ve got some great young players – some guys that redshirted last year and guys that are new to the program this year that are contributing right away.”

Six out of the 17 Bruins who have played through the first two games have been either freshmen or redshirt freshmen.

While the Bruins came away with two victories, Speraw said serving and passing are still areas that can be improved.

“We have to serve the ball and pass the ball at a much higher level,” Speraw said. “We’re going to need to really focus on our serving to see if we got some more guys that can go back and put some more pressure on opponents with different types of serves. The list (of things to improve) is long, but I’m feeling good about our potential.”

The Bruins continue their road trip on Monday against No. 10 Princeton at the Dillon Gymnasium.