MATCH STATS
- #2 UCLA Def. #13 CSUN 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19)
- #2 UCLA 11-1; #13 CSUN 6-4
- Los Angeles, California
- Box score
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – In an offensive showcase for the home team, #2 UCLA downed former MPSF foe #13 Cal State Northridge in four sets. The win tacks onto the overall strong resume of the Bruins while CSUN impressed at times in a loss but still are searching for that top tier victory.
That efficient UCLA offense that hit .430 came after they had a stronger passing match to go with stronger second contact. The Bruins posted four more serve errors, but four more aces as well which was indicative of their ability to keep CSUN out of system more often than the other way around.
Set one was tight throughout with 14 ties and four lead changes. CSUN looked to be at an advantage to stealing the first on the road with a 21-19 lead as Arvis Greene (16 kills, .275, nine digs) and Maciej Ptaszynski (seven kills, .429, eight digs, three blocks) combined for seven opening game kills on 15 swings and no errors. However, a 6-0 UCLA run completely switched the story and gave the Bruins set one.
That run didn’t carry over to the second though, as the Matadors once again struck early. Once again they led by a few points late, but this time Dimitar Kalchev (14 kills, .135, three blocks) carried them to the finish. He had a hand in the team’s last four points, with the final three in the game coming on kills.
It was the Bruins turn to strike again in the third, as the Bruins hit .609 behind the overall play and dynamic setting of Micah Ma’a (47 assists, eight digs, five kills, .714). He had plenty of options to throw it to, led by Christian Hessenauer (17 kills, .278, seven digs, seven blocks), Dylan Missry (15 kills, .609, seven digs), JT Hatch (10 kills, .444, nine digs, four assists) and Daenan Gyimah (eight kills, .462, three blocks, three aces).
While set three was the biggest explosion of offense on the night for UCLA, set four was the top defensive set for the Bruins. In total they held CSUN to a .000 mark for the game as Kalchev and Greene found more of the block and the passing wasn’t quite as sharp. That gave UCLA the win at 3-1.
In total, UCLA had the stronger hitting percentage (.430 to .287), block (9.5 to eight) and floor defense (35-33) on the stat sheet.
Next up, UCLA gets its first MPSF match as they take on Concordia Irvine on the road on Thursday. For CSUN, they take on another out of conference foe from the MPSF in Stanford on Saturday.
Press Releases
The No. 2-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team defeated No. 12 CSUN in four sets in a non-league contest held on Tuesday night in Pauley Pavilion. Scores of the match were 25-21, 23-25, 25-28, 25-19. UCLA improved its record to 11-1 on the season and hit .430 for the match. It was the third straight outing in which the Bruins have hit at least .400 for a match. Dylan Missry led the way for the Bruins with a season-high 15 kills on a .609 hitting percentage.
Set one was tied at each point until 11-all. CSUN then scored two straight for an 11-13 lead. The Matadors retained the lead until a Missry kill evened the score at 17 apiece. CSUN came right back and took two-point leads at 18-20 and 19-21. An Oliver Martin kill made it 20-21 and the senior headed to the service line where he stayed for five straight points to give the set to the Bruins at 25-21. JT Hatch, Christian Hessenauer and Daenan Gyimah tallied kills in that stretch. Missry finished with six kills in the set.
In set two, CSUN pulled out to an 8-11 advantage and built the margin up to 14-18, forcing a Bruin timeout. UCLA closed to 18-20 after a Micah Ma’a kill, but the Matadors quickly went back up 19-23. The Bruins closed to within one at 22-23 after kills by Hatch and Missry sandwiched around a CSUN error. The Matadors answered with a couple of kills to take the set 23-25. CSUN hit .500 for the set. Hatch led UCLA with six kills.
After CSUN jumped in front 3-4, UCLA utilized three kills and a block by Hessenauer/Martin to earn a 9-4 lead in set three. Ma’a served for five of the points in the 6-0 Bruin run. CSUN never was able to get back in it and another block by Hessenauer terminated the set at 25-18. The Bruins hit .609 for the set with one error on 23 swings.
In set four, CSUN broke a 9-all tie with a couple of points to take the lead. UCLA tied the score at 13-all after a hitting error. CSUN went back in front 13-15, but the Bruins tied it up at 15 after a Missry kill followed by a Martin/Hessenauer block. The run ended with UCLA in charge at 18-15. A Ma’a/Gyimah block made it 21-17. A kill by Gyimah put the Bruins at match point and a CSUN error ended the battle at 25-19.
Ma’a tied his season-best with five kills (.714) and handed out 47 set assists to go with eight digs. Hatch registered 10 kills (.444) and a team-best nine digs. Hessenauer totaled a match-high 17 kills, seven digs and seven blocks. UCLA won the blocking battle 9.5 to 8.0 for the match. The Bruins recorded five aces and held the Matadors, the leading service team in the country coming into the match, to just one ace.
The Bruins will open the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) league play on Thursday with a match at Concordia, Irvine at 7 p.m. before heading to Arizona to take on No. 10 Grand Canyon at 5 p.m. PT on Saturday. UCLA returns home next week to host USC in an MPSF match on Feb. 14 in Pauley at 7 p.m.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The second-ranked UCLA Bruins won a tightly contested four-set match Tuesday over the 12th-ranked CSUN Matadors, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19 at Pauley Pavilion.
The Matadors (6-4) held a lead in every set but the third and despite the setback, CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell thinks his team is beginning to find its groove with a set lineup.
“We’re definitely beginning to gel and we’re playing better volleyball,” said Campbell. “We played better against UC Santa Cruz and we played better tonight. We hit .287 and that was with a bunch of errors in the final set. We were down two sets to one but hitting over .400 as a team so that was encouraging.
“The problem right now is we’re giving up too many points in runs,” added Campbell. “Instead of giving up one or two points and siding out, we’re giving up three, four or five points but I think we’re improving each match as we build towards conference play.”
Senior Arvis Greene led CSUN with 15 kills, hitting .275 on a match-high 40 swings. Greene narrowly missed his first collegiate double-double after adding a career-high nine digs. Junior Dimitar Kalchev added 14 kills and three blocks but had an off night hitting .135 on 37 attacks.
Freshman Maciej Ptaszynski chipped in seven kills (.429) and had CSUN’s lone ace in the match along with a season-high eight digs. Senior Josiah Byers added six kills (.667), six blocks and four digs, all season highs, in the loss.
The Matadors had just nine hitting errors, hitting .403, over the first three sets before committing eight errors on .000 hitting in dropping set four.
The two teams battled to an 11-11 tie in the opening set when a UCLA hitting error followed by a Byers kill gave CSUN a 13-11 lead. The hosts would knot the score again at 17-17 and again at 18-18 when a Ptaszynski kill followed by a Christian Hessenauer hitting error again gave the Matadors a two-point lead.
CSUN still led by two at 21-19 following a Greene kill before a pair of UCLA kills forced a Matador timeout. But the set-clinching run continued out of the timeout as the Bruins rolled off six straight points to take the set 25-21.
Neither team led by more than one in set two until a Bruin hitting error gave CSUN a 9-7 lead. The Matadors pushed the lead to three at 11-8 and eventually led by as many as four (18-14) forcing a UCLA timeout.
After a Kalchev kill gave CSUN a 23-19 lead, the Bruins rallied to trim the lead to one forcing the Matadors to use both timeouts. Another Kalchev kill set CSUN up with set point at 24-22 and after UCLA saved on set point, Kalchev connected again giving the Matadors the 25-23 win.
After leading 4-3 early in set three, CSUN watched as UCLA quickly took control with a 6-0 run. The Bruins led by as many as eight before Ptaszynski’s ace temporarily cut the UCLA down to five at 23-18. But a kill and a block by the hosts sent the match to a fourth set.
In the final set, Byers put up a solo block sending CSUN into the media timeout with a 15-13 lead. A Dylan Missry kill on the next point fueled a 5-0 UCLA run that turned a two-point deficit into a three-point Bruin lead. The UCLA lead swelled to five (23-18) before the final six-point margin sent the Bruins to the win.
Hessenauer had a match-high 17 kills to lead four Bruins in double figures in kills. As a team, UCLA hit .430 in improving to 11-1 on the season.
CSUN returns to The Matadome this Saturday as the Matadors host Stanford at 6 p.m.
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