UCLA’s volleyball players had to be scratching their heads the whole way home Friday night, because it’s hard to figure out how 29 service errors and only four aces can lead to a win.
UCSB continued to struggle in capitalizing on golden opportunities, and the Bruins left Rob Gym with a 25-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-27 win over the Gauchos, who fell to a dismal 3-12 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
“They were giving us every opportunity to win that match, but we couldn’t figure it out,” said coach Rick McLaughlin.
UCSB hit a dismal .161 on the night and missed 17 serves, many at crucial junctures, and got out of system in the fourth set, often having to bump the ball over instead of getting opportunities to swing.
McLaughlin viewed the match as somewhat of a must-win for the Gauchos.
“We may have dug ourselves into a hole too deep to get out of,” he said. ” I thought we really had to beat this team, especially after we lost the second match against Hawaii last week.”
Jeff Menzel had a match-high 26 kills and led UCSB with seven digs, but his supporting cast hit for a .091 clip with only 23 kills. McLaughlin said he wrestled with the idea of altering the lineup, but wound up sticking with his starting six and libero Andy McGuire.
UCLA (9-12, 5-9 MPSF) was plagued by errors down the stretch in the first set, as Trey Valbuena ended it with a kill from the right side to get the hosts off on the right foot. Six of the first 10 points in the second frame were scored on missed serves, and UCSB came out of the mess on top with a 23-20 lead. They would give up five consecutive points to the Bruins, including two kills and an ace by star junior Garrett Muagututia.
A missed serve by the Bruins would tie it up at 27-27, but the Gauchos made a couple of key hitting errors and gave up three straight.
UCLA jumped out to a dominating 11-3 lead in the third that somehow ended up a 26-26 tie before UCSB once again gave up four straight points. The Gauchos jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth but once again laid down once the score got into the 20s.
The Gauchos are off for nearly two weeks, returning to host Cal Baptist on March 24.
