The UCI Men’s Volleyball team (9-5) was defeated by the UCLA Bruins (15-1, 2-0) in a 3-1 loss at the Bren Events Center on Friday, Feb. 24.
The majority of the match’s first set was a nail-biting back-and-forth rally between both squads. UCLA junior outside hitter Ethan Champlin, who was UCLA’s second highest kill leader with 13 kills, started off the match with a kill into the middle of UCI territory. Soon after, both teams were neck and neck, scoring points left and right. Notably, UCI redshirt junior outside hitter Doug Dahm and redshirt junior setter Joe Karlous worked together in an impressive double block to make it 8-7 for UCI.
While UCLA kept the game competitive throughout, they hiccuped offensively by sending the ball into the crowd after a shanked pass — twice. Following that was a UCI double block by junior middle blocker Connor Campbell and sophomore outside hitter Hilir Henno to knock the ball back into UCLA ground extending the UCI lead to 19-13.
After UCI hit the ball over UCLA’s heads and out of bounds, UCLA responded with an impressive double block of their own by freshman setter Andrew Rowan and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Guy Genis to lessen the offensive gap to 19-15.
UCLA was able to secure three more points but was soon offensively outpaced by their opponents with a flurry of kills from freshman opposite William D’arcy and Henno, followed by a net violation error from UCLA at the very end of the first set. This ultimately granted UCI their first and only set win, 25-17.
UCLA started the second set in the same fashion as the first, with Champlin delivering the first kill to give UCLA their first lead of the set. This time around, though, the Bruins maintained their lead throughout the entirety of the set, only tying with the ‘Eaters twice. Both teams kept the score much closer than the first set, keeping each other on their toes with many back-and-forth kills and points, tying twice. Yet, what ultimately cost the Anteaters this set were two key net violation errors and an attack error.
Towards the latter half of the set, as both teams were slugging out back-and-forth kills and points, UCLA redshirt junior middle blocker Merrick McHenry and Champlin clinched the game with two crucial aces near the end to help UCLA win the second set in a thrilling close 25-23 to even the match 1-1.
The Bruins began the third set again with the first kill. UCLA and UCI continued to butt heads throughout the first half of the third set, exchanging leads with one another. The Bruins suddenly went on a small 4-0 run, with an ace and a block to top it off, to give the Bruins a sizeable 8-4 lead. UCLA made a few crucial errors afterward, allowing the Anteaters to close the gap to 11-10.
UCI wasn’t able to gain any leads in the third set, but Dahm was able to stand out with two aces into UCLA territory to contribute offensively. Soon after, UCLA scored five back-to-back points, cementing the lead towards the latter half of the third set to 19-13. The Anteaters only scored three more points in the set, before UCLA closed out the rest of the set in dominant fashion, 25-16.
The fourth and final set began with UCLA hitting the ball over the Anteaters’ heads to take the first lead, 1-0. While UCI was able to contend with UCLA throughout the first half of the fourth set, the Bruins began taking a more sizable lead. After redshirt sophomore libero Gustavo Gomes hit a kill into UCLA territory, the Bruins offense began cooking with ten kills in a row to extend the lead to 21-12, the largest lead of the night.
The Anteater offense ultimately waned towards the latter half of the final set, scoring only four more points before ending the set at 25-16 and the game at 3-1.
After the game, head coach David Kniffin reflected on the Anteaters’ performance.
“The question is, can we continue to improve and get better, and the answer is yes, we absolutely can,” Kniffin told UCI Athletics. “It’s a quick turnaround, but I think we can improve from tonight to Sunday.”
The ‘Eaters faced off against the Bruins once more at UCLA on Sunday, Feb. 26 finishing off the match with a 3-1 loss.
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Staff Writer for the winter 2023 quarter. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu
