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Men’s volleyball swept by Stanford, marking 2nd consecutive straight-sets defeat

Freshman outside hitter/opposite Cole Ketrzynski leads the team in kills for the season after notching eight in No. 7 UCLA men’s volleyball’s loss to No. 13 Stanford. The Bruins dropped to .500 for the first time in 2020. (Xiomara Novo/Daily Bruin)

Men's volleyball


No. 7 UCLA0
No. 13 Stanford3

By Jake Greenberg-Bell

Feb. 9, 2020 3:18 p.m.

The Bruins set records for all the wrong reasons.

No. 7 UCLA men’s volleyball (5-5, 0-2 MPSF) was swept by No. 13 Stanford (5-5, 1-2) by scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-17 on Saturday night in Palo Alto. It was the Bruins’ second consecutive loss and fifth out of their last seven contests.

Missing from the match for the Bruins was freshman outside hitter Alex Knight, who had played in every contest previously and led the team in kills prior to Saturday.

Nevertheless, UCLA went ahead early after freshman setter Mads Kyed Jensen won back-to-back points for the Bruins to take a 4-2 lead. However, the Cardinal went on an 11-5 run and eventually won the set as the Bruins were unable to rally.

UCLA didn’t record a single block in the first set and finished the game with four block assists, its lowest tally of the season.

It was also the highest hitting percentage the Bruins have allowed in a set all season, as the Cardinal hit for .857 as a team in the opening set.

Fueling the Cardinal’s second-set win was an 8-0 run that canceled out a 5-1 early Bruin lead and brought the score to 9-8. A four-point run late in the set, highlighted by back-to-back aces by Stanford outside hitter Will Rottman, stretched the advantage to 24-17 – beyond UCLA’s reach.

The Cardinal balanced their attack all night, as three players recorded 10 or more kills in the game. The Bruins didn’t have a single player reach double figures in kills and they set their second-lowest total in kills all season.

Sophomore outside hitter Ian Eschenberg saw action again for the third straight game and recorded four kills, his season high.

One of these kills came in the third set and tied the game at 11-11. But the Cardinal once again went on a run, this time winning six straight points. They would go on to win the third set and the match.

Saturday marked first time since 2015 the Bruins have been swept four times in a season, and the record low came just 10 games into the team’s 26-game regular season slate.

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Jake Greenberg-Bell | Sports reporter
Greenberg-Bell is currently a Sports reporter. He was previously a contributor on the men's soccer, women's soccer and men's volleyball beats.
Greenberg-Bell is currently a Sports reporter. He was previously a contributor on the men's soccer, women's soccer and men's volleyball beats.
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