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UCLA men’s volleyball falls to No. 1 Hawai’i despite tight match in top-2 showdown

Members of the UCLA men’s volleyball team look on during a point. The Bruins dropped their second match of the season against Hawai’i on Saturday. (Felicia Keller/Daily Bruin)

Men's Volleyball


No. 2 UCLA1
No. 1 Hawai'i3

By Anthony Aroyan

March 12, 2023 11:00 p.m.

Far from home and amid a hostile crowd, the Bruins fell to a pack of Rainbow Warriors.

No. 2. UCLA men’s volleyball (19-2) lost in 3-1 fashion to No. 1 Hawai’i (17-1) on Saturday. The duel between the top two programs came as the final match of the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, where the blue and gold also faced No. 3 Penn State and Purdue Fort Wayne.

Aside from challenging the team on the court, the Bruins also had to work against a sold-out crowd of over 10,000 opposing fans, who cheered and shouted after every point the Rainbow Warriors secured. The four-set affair also featured two sets which went into overtime – the opening frame and the match-deciding fourth set.

“It was real tight,” said coach John Speraw. “One play here or there makes a difference. We’ll learn from it.”

The first set saw a number of close calls and duels over the net as well as scoring runs from both sides. UCLA managed to drum up a 6-1 rally in the middle of the set to notch a four-point lead. However, stubborn defense from Hawai’i forced multiple attack errors, prolonging the set.

Dragged well into overtime, service errors from UCLA granted free points to the opposition, who was able to take the set. The Bruins conceded 25 service errors on the night, the highest tally of the season thus far.

Besides the errors from the line, physicality characterized the match on both sides. Defense showed up Saturday night, with the Bruins’ block limiting Hawai’i outside hitter/opposite Spyros Chakas to his second-lowest hitting percentage of the season.

“It was definitely a super physical match, we knew that going in,” said redshirt junior middle blocker Merrick McHenry. “It was a heavy-hitting fight, and I think that’s going to be super good for us too when it comes to wanting to be good at the end of the year and in May.”

McHenry tallied 11 kills off no errors, hitting at a team-high .647 clip and contributing to the block with five.

Stepping in off the bench when Speraw knew the team needed an extra spark was freshman outside hitter Zach Rama. Rama substituted in for senior outside hitter Alex Knight in the third set and played the rest of the way, recording 12 kills off 19 attacks and leading the offense for the final two frames.

“A lot of the credit goes to my team,” Rama said. “The (freshman) setter, Andrew Rowan, was putting up some great balls, and Alex Knight was supplying great support off the bench, and he gave me a lot of tips.”

The blue and gold’s only set win came in the second frame. Statistically, sophomore outside hitter/opposite Ido David led the Bruins offensively in the set with six kills. McHenry also recorded a service ace on the frame to aid in the Bruins’ victory.

(Felicia Keller/Daily Bruin)
Redshirt junior middle blocker Merrick McHenry goes up for a kill. McHenry led the Bruins at a .647 clip, with no errors on 11 kills. (Felicia Keller/Daily Bruin)

After a tight third set, the match culminated in another overtime thriller, in which UCLA was on the wrong side of the proceedings. Two consecutive attack errors as a result of blocks and misplaced passes led to a win for Hawai’i and the Bruins’ second loss of the season. Despite the eventual defeat, however, McHenry said the Bruins are optimistic about their performance.

“It was a great match and a great challenge for us,” McHenry said. “It wasn’t how we wanted the match to go, but ultimately we’re going to be able to learn a lot.”

Despite dropping the final game to Hawai’i, UCLA avenged its early-season-loss to another top-ranked program in Penn State, and Speraw said the invitational provided an important learning experience for the team against two of the other top three programs in the nation.

“We were in the mix, and that’s just where we want to be,” Speraw said. “If we use these next six weeks well, we can get a little bit better. If we play Hawai’i again, we’re in a good place because that means we’re playing in the postseason, so hopefully we get another opportunity.”

UCLA will return to conference play this weekend with an away series against Stanford. The first game will take place Friday at 7 p.m. in the Cardinal’s Maples Pavilion.

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Anthony Aroyan
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