University of the PACIFIC

The men's volleyball team was downed by No. 3 UCLA Bruins, 3-0, on Saturday, February 13. With the loss Pacific drops to 6-9 overall and 0-9 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), while UCLA improved to 7-6, and 6-4 in the MPSF.

The game scores for the match were: 30-26, 30-26, and 30-27.

The Tigers battled the Bruins hard in the beginning of the first game. With Pacific ahead 10-9, UCLA added four straight points to take a 13-10 lead. Later in the game the Tigers were trailing 18-17, but a four point rally put them in charge 21-18. Included in this run was a kill from senior Jason Borchin (Roseville, Calif.) and a block by freshman Nikola Vukicevic (Belgrade, Serbia) and sophomore Florian Gornik (Schwechat, Austria). The teams tied again at 22-22, when the Bruins posted another four point run to take a 26-22 lead. The Tigers edged back with three straight points including a kill from sophomore Sean Daley (Moorpark, Calif.) and a combined block by Daley and freshman Patrick Tunnell (Tucson, Ariz.), making the score 26-25. But with the Bruins leading at 28-16, two straight points would secure the first game, 30-16. The two teams fought through 15 tie scores and six lead changes during the game.

In the second set the Bruins scored seven of the first nine points, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Slowly edging back, the Tigers brought themselves within two at 13-11, with two straight, including a kill from Daley and a service ace by freshman Taylor Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.). At 15-14, the Bruins pushed ahead with a five point rally, taking the score to 20-14. At 26-20, Pacific scored two on UCLA errors, bringing the score to 26-22. On a Bruin gamepoint, 29-25, Hughes racked a kill to record the final Pacific point of the game, as a kill for UCLA on the next play closed out the game, 30-26.

Battling through 16 tie scores in the third game, the beginning of the set went back and forth. At 21-20, the Bruins gained a three point lead over the Tigers with two straight kills, taking the score to 23-20. A kill from Daley on the next play made the score 23-21, but a Pacific service error took the score to 24-21. A two point run for the Tigers started with a kill from Borchin and was followed by a block from Borchin and Vukicevic, narrowed the Bruin lead to 24-23. At 26-23, a three point rally for the Tigers tied the game at 26-26. Included in this set of plays was a block by Vukicevic and Tunnell, another block by Vukicevic and Borchin, followed by a kill from Gornik. Hughes racked a kill at 27-26 to post the final tie score of the game at 27-27. The Bruins would finish with three straight points, capturing the game, 30-27, and the match 3-0.

Pacific was led by Vukicevic, who racked eight blocks and three kills and Hughes, who posted a match-high of 15 kills.

Garrett Muagututia led the Bruins with 14 kills.

The Tigers will be back on the court on Wednesday, February 17, to take on Pepperdine at 7:00 pm in Malibu, Calif.