No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball tops No. 2 Long Beach State again

LOS ANGELES — The UCLA and Long Beach State men’s volleyball teams certainly might square off later this spring with another national championship at stake, but the top-ranked Bruins delivered another statement on Friday night, beating second-ranked LBSU for the second time in two weeks.

The Bruins (12-0) won this one in four sets, 25-15, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24, at Pauley Pavilion, avoiding the drama of the reverse sweep they needed to beat Long Beach at the Pyramid on Feb. 6.

UCLA hit. 447 in the rematch, as Cameron Thorne and Sean Kelly had 13 kills each to pace the Bruins. Zach Rama added 12 kills. Defensively, libero Chris Connelly had six digs while Thorne added six blocks to help the Bruins hold Long Beach to a .277 hitting percentage.

Skyler Varga paced LBSU (9-2) with a match-high 18 kills on a .389 percentage. Wojciech Gajek added 13 kills and eight digs, while Alex Kandev finished with eight kills and two aces. Ben Braun added eight kills on nine swings (.889), while setter Jake Pazanti directed the offense with 46 assists.

UCLA hit .667 in the first set, taking an 8-2 lead to force a Long Beach timeout. The Bruins kept the pressure on and extended the lead to 15-9 on an ace from setter Andrew Rowan, forcing another LBSU timeout. A David Decker ace made it 20-12, a Thorne kill off a dish from Rowan made it 24-14, then a Varga service error gave the Bruins the opening set, 25-15.

Long Beach opened a 6-4 advantage in the second set before the Bruins ran off three straight points. Rowan found Micah Wong Diallo, then Rama, before a block from Wong Diallo and Rama gave UCLA a 7-6 lead. The teams went back and forth from there, with neither side leading by more than two points before Long Beach closed out the set, 26-24.

The Bruins responded in a third set that featured 12 tie scores. A block from Thorne and Rowan gave UCLA an 11-8 lead before a kill from Thorne made it 12-9. Long Beach rallied to knot the score at 17-all, as the sides traded points late in the set. A kill from Rama made it 23-23, and he re-tied the set at 24-24 as well. An attack error from LBSU gave UCLA a set point at 25-24, but LBSU tied it again. Rowan found Thorne to produce another set point for the Bruins, and Thorne and Kelly combined for a block to give the hosts the third set, 27-25.

The Bruins carried that momentum into the fourth set, taking a 13-9 lead on another Thorne kill. Long Beach responded and pulled within one point at 18-17. A Kelly kill gave UCLA a 21-19 lead, before LBSU took three of the next four points to level the set at 22-22.

With the score tied at 23-23, Rama delivered his 12th kill of the night to give the Bruins a match point. Each team followed with a service error, giving UCLA another match point at 25-24. The Bruins then won the match on an LBSU attack error.