Down two sets, UCLA men’s volleyball didn’t throw in the towel – instead the Bruins dug down deep and came away with a win.
On Wednesday night, UCLA beat Long Beach State 3-2 in a comeback victory.
Late in the fourth set with the score 24-24, redshirt junior outside hitter Dane Worley had two consecutive kills that kept the No. 5 Bruins alive.
“I definitely was feeling very confident,” Worley said, “and it helped that the sets from Connor Brannon were absolutely perfect”
Redshirt junior Connor Brannon assisted Worley on those two kills and ended the match with 20 assists.
UCLA was coming off a weekend in which it swept both of its opponents.
The Bruins fell behind early to the 49ers in the first set and could not recover. UCLA trailed the entire set and dug itself into a hole, allowing LBSU to go on long scoring streaks twice.
It was the same story in the second set. Long Beach came out strong early in the match and UCLA could not respond.
“We did not get down on ourselves early in the game although the volleyball we were playing was quite poor,” said coach John Speraw. “We could have gotten discouraged, but we didn’t.”
The Bruins picked up their performance on the defensive end, a key to their success in the latter half of the match.
“We were doing a good job digging and blocking in the second half,” said junior outside hitter Gonzalo Quiroga.
Worley had a strong hitting performance and ended the match with a team high 26 kills.
UCLA looks to extend its winning streak on Friday in a road game against Cal State Northridge.
