Bruin men’s volleyball brought to roaring straight-set defeat by Nittany Lions
Redshirt senior middle blocker Matt Younggren hit for .286 as No. 6 UCLA men’s volleyball was swept on the road for the second consecutive match. (Alice Naland/Daily Bruin staff)
Men's volleyball
| No. 6 UCLA | 0 |
| No. 10 Penn State | 3 |
By Samuel In
Jan. 25, 2020 4:54 p.m.
The Bruins dropped their sixth straight set after allowing their opponent to hit for its highest hitting percentage all season.
No. 6 UCLA men’s volleyball (3-2) was swept by No. 10 Penn State (3-2) by scores of 25-22, 29-27 and 26-24.
The Bruins allowed the Nittany Lions to hit for .500 as a team, the best they have hit this season. Opposite Calvin Mende and outside hitters Bobby Wilden and Brett Wildman hit for .591, .625 and .450 for Penn State, respectively. They combined for 38 of the team’s 44 kills with six hitting errors.
Coach John Speraw said Penn State should have won by a larger margin given its hitting success.
“Considering the fact that their pin hitters hit for such a high rate, it’s actually fortunate for us that we were as close as we were,” Speraw said.
UCLA blocked Penn State three times in the match and is averaging 1.6 blocks per set this season after averaging 1.8 last season.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Matt Younggren said the team hasn’t been focusing much on blocking and defense, relying on its offensive skills to tally wins instead.
“Block and defense is always big but at the end of the day, college men’s volleyball is a serve and pass game,” Younggren said. “We’re working on our block and defense always trying to earn more points, but our serving and passing is what’s going to win games as well.”
Freshman setter Mads Kyed Jensen set his season-high total in aces, leading the Bruins in the match with five, and senior outside hitter Austin Matautia was second-highest with two.
Speraw said the Bruins will need more contributions from other players in creating more service pressure.
“Matautia and (Kyed Jensen) are serving the ball but we’re not getting much production from the other four guys,” Speraw said. “What that’s doing is allowing teams to be in system at a really high percentage, and we’re not making up for that with efficient block and defense.”
UCLA had won set point in the second set by a score of 25-23 but was overruled by a successful challenge by Penn State. The Bruins had two more opportunities after the challenge but failed to convert on both occasions, eventually dropping the set on a service ace by Nittany Lion middle blocker Jason Donorovich.
Freshman outside hitter Alex Knight said Penn State’s serving made it difficult for the Bruins to close out sets.
“At the end of the sets, they put a lot of pressure on us with their serves and we didn’t handle it as well as we know we can,” Knight said.
UCLA will continue the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge when it faces Ohio State at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday at the Rec Hall in University Park, Pennsylvania.
