The stakes are high when a ranked opponent is on the other side of the net.

And at the site of this year’s NCAA championship, the stakes are even higher.

With an opportunity to scout the Covelli Center on Friday, No. 3 UCLA men’s volleyball (5-1) secured its second sweep in two weeks over No. 17 Penn State (0-5) at the Big Ten Challenge in Columbus, Ohio.

“To be able to have a better advantage having played here before because not a lot of teams get to – that was definitely something that we did with purpose,” said redshirt sophomore opposite hitter David Decker. “All gyms are pretty different, so being able to get used to this one can be very helpful down the road.”

After 13 consecutive days without a match – due to cancellations caused by illness on the opposing team – the Nittany Lions struggled with nine attacking errors and a measly 0.04 hitting percentage in the first frame. And despite a five-point serving run headed by middle blocker Gaige Gabriel, the Bruins edged out the Nittany Lions 28-26.

“It’s good early in the season to be pushed like that, and it’s hard to simulate those situations in your practice gym. You can set up drills, and you can do some things where you can manufacture the score, but you don’t get the same feeling of that stress of having to side out with your back against the wall,” said coach John Hawks. “We stayed composed and kicked ourselves in system for the most part and were able to run our offense.”

The Bruins’ reliance on Nittany Lion errors would not need to last, with redshirt junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson and junior outside hitter Zach Rama spearheading the team’s attack. The former sported a .565 hitting percentage while the latter, who leads the team in kills per set this season, mustered 10 kills Friday.

UCLA struggled under the burden of 21 service errors – blunders that Hawks has been willing to forgive when the ace-to-error ratio remains strong. In a contest where errors outnumbered aces by 15, Hawks remained content to overlook.

Despite admitting that there were some serves he wishes the team could take back, Hawks said his players didn’t fall short of expectations.

“Four to one – that’s in that acceptable range,” Hawks said. “For the most part, you’ve got to put pressure on these guys, and we did that and got successes.”

Hawks found ample opportunity to showcase the attacking depth of the Bruin bench.

In the final frame, a kill from junior middle blocker Cameron Thorne launched the Bruins to a 3-2 lead that eventually sealed the match. And after sitting the bench for two straight matches, redshirt junior middle blocker Matthew Edwards returned to his place in the starting lineup and assisted the Bruins with a pair of kills and blocks each.

Hawks substituted in Decker and gave the redshirt sophomore more playing time after the coach removed outside hitter/opposite Ido David following a hit to the senior’s head within the match’s first minutes. The move proved worthwhile, with Decker demolishing his previous career high with eight kills on the evening – and accumulated 11.5 points, the second-highest among the Bruins.

“We all look for him (Decker) to succeed when he gets out there, and he’s a freak athlete,” Rama said. “He can do some really special things on the court, so it’s good that he got to get out there and showcase that tonight.”

With only a crowd of about 350, the match still delivered a preview of the atmosphere that would accompany a likely full audience at the Covelli Center during May’s NCAA tournament.

“We’re familiarizing ourselves with everything here, where we’re eating and where we’re staying. … We’re visualizing being here in May,” Hawks said. “The crowd was a little sparse, but the fact that we were able to play with some energy and create our own energy on court was something.”