No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball takes straight-sets loss to No. 7 Lewis

A week ago, the Bruins overcame an early deficit to take down a top-five opponent.

On Saturday night, however, they were taken down by the No. 7-ranked team in three sets.

“Any team can beat any team on any given night,” said redshirt junior opposite Kevin Kobrine. “If you do not come to play, if you do not come to work, you get swept.”

No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (4-1) was swept by No. 7 Lewis (5-2) on Saturday evening at the John Wooden Center one week after defeating then-No. 3 Penn State in four sets in the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge on Jan. 22. The loss was the blue and gold’s first of the season.

The Bruins picked up three service aces but committed 15 service errors, including six in the third period alone. Across three sets, Lewis tallied eight, a difference coach John Speraw said his team needs to address moving forward.

“I don’t think we served very well,” Speraw said. “We didn’t put any pressure on them. We were too concerned about making errors and not enough on how we exert pressure on another team, and that was really apparent.”

In addition to the service errors, UCLA lost the blocking battle as well, tying a season-high three block errors compared to Lewis’ zero. Both the Bruins and the Flyers finished with 40 kills, but it took the blue and gold 16 more attempts – with Lewis picking up eight more digs to make up the difference.

Speraw said the loss exposed his team’s struggles on both sides of the ball.

“We didn’t do enough blocking and defense,” Speraw said. “We’re really going to have to focus in on this defense, and we’re going to need to continue to get better offensively, but that’s going to be with some experience.”

Saturday’s match opened with UCLA ahead of Lewis by one point at 2-1. The Bruins eventually tied the game at five with a kill from Kobrine, but ultimately did not regain the lead for the rest of the set. The team tallied four service errors and five attack errors in the period en route to a 25-21 loss – its first opening set defeat since its match against Penn State.

The Bruins rallied to a 3-2 start in the second set but relinquished the advantage following a five-point Flyer run. The stretch would later extend the blue and gold’s deficit to seven – its largest of the match.

After being briefly substituted in near the end of the first period, redshirt sophomore setter Marcus Partain was once again brought back in halfway through the second frame to close out the set. Behind seven assists in the frame and a service ace from Partain, the Bruins were able to get within three points before ultimately losing 25-20.

Partain said he tried to lift up his team after it faced the possibility of a 2-0 deficit.

“Positive body language is always helpful,” Partain said. “Giving energy instead of sucking energy, and on top of that, for me, just making the best decisions based on the personnel that I can set at the time.”

With Partain starting, the third set featured nine ties and three lead changes compared to three of each in the second frame. UCLA was able to hold the lead for most of the period until a three-point Lewis run put the visitors on top for good, eventually culminating in a 25-23 loss to close the game.

After the team’s performance in the first two sets, Speraw said the Bruins were hoping to change the outcome in the third period.

“We obviously didn’t do anything well tonight,” Speraw said. “We just wanted to see if we could win … in the third set and change the momentum a little. We almost did, but there are a lot of things that didn’t go our way.”

Kobrine said that energy during the match played a large role in his team’s first defeat of the 2022 campaign.

“Momentum is a very big part of volleyball,” Kobrine said. “By not getting any momentum and coming out flat, it really set us back, and that is how we got destroyed in the first set and lost in the second and third too.”