Men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and now men’s volleyball have all suffered losses to their crosstown rivals, the UCLA Bruins, in the past week. Some could say the Battle of L.A. has been won by the Bruins.
After an 18-day break, No. 5 men’s volleyball returned to action against No. 1 UCLA Tuesday night in its first match of a home-and-home. The result came in a disappointing manner, however, as the Trojans dropped their second loss of the season in a five-set battle (25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 28-30, 9-15).
“Obviously not the result we want,” head coach Jeff Nygaard said. “But still proud of the effort. We were playing, we were battling. We just need to work on converting a little bit better.”
Despite another 20-plus kill performance by USC senior outside hitter Dillon Klein and a breakout 19-dig defensive game by sophomore libero Johnny Dykstra, UCLA remained undefeated at 14-0.
The Trojans set the tone in set one, holding UCLA to 0.176 hitting percentage and outdigging the Bruins 15-9. The teams traded points back-and-forth until sophomore outside hitter Sterling Foley scored his first ace of the night, putting USC up 20-16.
After USC secured the set one win, UCLA was quick to fire back with an outstanding offensive performance led by redshirt junior opposite hitter David Decker with six kills.
With the contest tied 1-1, the Trojans had their best performance of the match, hitting a game-high 0.500 that put them up 2-1. Klein put up seven more kills in set three, while junior middle blocker Wesley Smith made his presence felt with three kills and one block after missing the previous two matches with an injury.
It was a nail-biter fourth set, however, that shifted the momentum for the Trojans and the rest of the game.
During the fourth, USC trailed for most of the set but was able to keep the score close. With the score tied nine times, the Bruins and Trojans traded kill after kill, going well above the standard 25-point benchmark.
Tension grew when the score was tied 24-24, after Klein scored his 23rd kill of the match. UCLA senior outside hitter Zach Rama attacked back quickly to give UCLA set point. The ball was back in Klein’s hands as he tipped the ball short, but the refs called the point in favor of UCLA, ruling the ball out of bounds.
After a coach’s challenge by Nygaard, the call was reversed and Galen Center erupted as fans rose from their chairs in excitement when they heard the reversal.
With all the fans on their feet, the teams traded kill after kill for a couple more points until Trojan junior setter Caleb Blanchette was blocked at the net, giving UCLA a 29-28 lead. With a chance to tie the score, Foley was blocked attempting a back-row attack, and the Trojans lost the set 30-28.
The tough set loss greatly affected the Trojans’ energy, and it was hard for them to find any momentum going into the fifth. USC dug itself into a 5-0 point hole and never found its offensive groove, hitting a match-low 0.077.
“We just came out flat,” Smith said. “We let them rally a few points off the bat and we just weren’t able to side out.”
The Bruins secured the victory with a 15-9 win in set five. They were led by sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly, who finished with 21 kills, and Rama’s 15 kills, combining for a total of 38.5 of the Bruins’ points.
“We have a long way to go to become the best version of ourselves. We’ve got so much potential, it’s actually scary,” Nygaard said. “So you put the work in, you just keep grinding, you keep growing, and you use opportunities like this to say ‘we got to dial it in.’”
The Trojans will face UCLA again in the second game of the series on March 5 at Pauley Pavilion.