UCLA Bruins improves to 6-1 in the season with win over Stanford – Volleyball news
The men’s volleyball team of University of California Los Angeles (UCL) appeared in the seventh match of the 2012 season on Friday, January 20.
The UCLA Bruins were challenged by the Cardinal of Stanford University, which proved to be an easy competitor for them. John Wooden Centre hosted the match, which ended in hosts’ favour. UCLA Bruins emerged the winner by posting 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17)
win over the Cardinal. With a third consecutive win, the UCLA improved to an overall record of 6-1 in the season, while Stanford moved to 3-1.
Sophomore Gonzalo Quiroga of UCLA enjoyed a great form and topped all the scorers with a total of 18 points. Brad Lawson of Stanford fought bravely and had 13 kills in the match.
Equipped with stupendous support of local fans, the Bruins jumped out of the gate and added consecutive points. Nice combination of attack and defence enabled UCLA to stay on top of the game. The visiting Cardinal squad lagged behind and asked for first
technical timeout at 16-11. Both sides used the vital timeout to plan rest of the game.
The volleyball action resumed and exchange of long rallies started. Stanford attacker threw everything in attack and tried to break the tempo of Bruins. Stanford came really close to UCLA at 24-23 before Jeremy Casebeer put an end to the show with a perfect
kill. Bruins claimed first frame with narrow margin of two points, 25-23.
The second set featured a lot of hue and cry from both sides. Stanford tried different methods to dismantle the power of resilient rival. They tied the score at 12-all and eventually went up on the scoreboard, 16-13.
Nevertheless, the Bruins stormed back behind a Stanford attack error and evened the score at 16-all. Bruins would not look back after that and after calling timeout with a 22-21 lead, they capitalized on a guest team service error and incorporated back-to-back
kills, which guided UCLA second-set win 25-22.
Bruins continued with success in the third set and finished the match in straight sets. They captured final set by posting 25-17 on board and sent the Cardinal to first loss in the season.
John Kosty, the Head Coach of Stanford regretted the first loss in the season. He said, “We had some opportunities we didn't take advantage of. And they executed very well. They came out strong. They served tough the whole match and that took away a little
of our attack. UCLA's good. But we've got a good team too. This is the second match of the MPSF, and we've got a long way to go.”
Next up, the Bruins will return to action in another home match against Pacific Tigers on Saturday. The same John Wooden Centre is set to host the match. The Cardinal will go against Penn State in the next week.
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