Men’s volleyball swept by BYU in largest set loss of season
Redshirt senior middle blocker Matt Younggren hit for .714 for No. 7 UCLA men’s volleyball against No. 2 BYU. He was the only Bruin to hit above .500 in the team’s 3-0 loss to the Cougars. (Samuel In/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Men's volleyball
| No. 7 UCLA | 0 |
| No. 2 BYU | 3 |
By Jake Greenberg-Bell
Feb. 7, 2020 1:08 a.m.
This post was updated Feb. 8 at 11:56 a.m.
The Bruins beat the No. 4 team in the nation last week, but the No. 2 team proved to be too much of a challenge.
No. 7 UCLA men’s volleyball (5-4, 0-1 MPSF) was swept by No. 2 BYU (11-0, 1-0) 31-29, 25-12, 25-23, Thursday night in Provo, Utah. The Bruins entered the game after having beaten then-No.4 and then undefeated Long Beach State Jan. 31.
In the first set, the Cougars led by three points before the Bruins put together a three point run that brought the score to 11-11.
Down the stretch, the teams traded points to bring the first set score to 29-29. Eventually, the Cougars broke the deadlock and won back-to-back points to claim the set 31-29.
It was the second-longest set of the Bruins’ season and the longest of the Cougars’.
Even though the Bruins lost the first set, freshman outside hitter/opposite Cole Ketrzynski said the team wasn’t worried about being down.
“We knew we played really hard and that’s what we wanted to do,” Ketrzynski said. “For us the first set wasn’t necessarily about winning it, obviously we wanted to but it was more about coming out and fighting hard.”
After hitting 0.297 in the first set, the Bruins hit -0.067 in the second and went down early in the set. The Cougars won the set 25-12 and hit .714 in the second set, to deal the Bruins the largest set loss of their season so far.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Matt Younggren said while the team struggled in the second set, its recent results have proven to to the team their potential.
“The second set we came out a little flat. We made some errors and couldn’t really find our groove again,” Younggren said. “We are a young team and we’ve kind of figured out we can hang with anybody in the nation. These are some of the top teams right now, No. 2 and No. 4, so we know our capabilities and we know we have to keep working hard.”
Thursday marked the return of senior middle blocker Daenan Gyimah. Last year, Gyimah was selected to the 2019 first-team All-MPSF and led the team with 311 total kills. In his first game since Jan. 6, Gyimah recorded seven kills while hitting at a .429 clip.
Younggren said Gyimah’s return was important for the team, but that Gyimah will need time to mesh with the young team.
“He’s still working on his connection with our setter. He hasn’t been in the game for a while so that’ll come with time as well,” Younggren said. “But it’s definitely big to have him back, he’s a phenomenal player.”
In the third set, the Bruins hit for their best percentage all match. They brought the set to within one point at 22-23 after a kill by Gyimah. But the Cougars did not falter, and went on to close out the set 25-23. The win keeps the Cougars undefeated and continues the team’s best start to a season since 2008 when they started 12-0.
Even after the loss, Gyimah said he is confident in the team’s high ceiling.
“Last game was a confidence booster, this game not so much, but I don’t think we really need confidence at this point, we just need to figure our stuff out,” Gyimah said. “We can be the best team in the country.”
