Men’s volleyball serves Long Beach State first loss of season
Freshman outside hitter/opposite Cole Ketrzynski had 17 kills for No. 8 UCLA men’s volleyball in its win over No. 4 Long Beach State. The Bruins’ win in Long Beach was the team’s first since the 2016 season. (Samuel In/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Men's volleyball
| No. 8 UCLA | 3 |
| No. 4 LBSU | 1 |
By Jack Perez
Feb. 2, 2020 3:17 p.m.
Fresh off a home loss and traveling to an arena where no visitor had won in almost four years, the Bruins pulled off their first upset of the season.
No. 8 UCLA men’s volleyball (5-3) took down No. 4 Long Beach State (5-1) in four sets by scores of 25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23 on the road to hand the Beach their first loss of the season.
UCLA had fallen three times in their last four matches, including a loss in their home opener versus No. 13 Princeton. Meanwhile, the two-time defending champion Beach had not lost in Walter Pyramid since Mar. 26, 2016.
The Bruins jumped out to a two-set lead through three separate 4-0 runs. UCLA was down 23-21 near the end of the first, but rallied to win the set. The team then ran off two runs in the second to gain a 20-13 lead before eventually winning the set.
The Beach came back to win the third set after falling behind 14-9, pushing the match to a fourth set. However, the Bruins claimed the match behind five kills each from redshirt senior middle blocker Matt Younggren and freshman outside hitter/opposite Cole Ketrzynski in the fourth set.
Ketrzynski led the Bruins with 17 kills on the night, seven more than the next closest teammate. The new Bruin ranks second on the team with 75 kills – four behind fellow freshman outside hitter Alex Knight – and has the most kills in each of the Bruins’ past three wins.
UCLA will have the chance to win two straight road games over top-5 teams when it travels to Provo, Utah, to take on No. 2 BYU on Thursday in the conference opener for both teams.
