Thursday, March 28

With many starters unable to play, men’s volleyball falls short to USC


Filling in at opposite in a lineup missing several players, redshirt senior outside hitter/setter Sam Kobrine recorded a career-high 14 kills in No. 6 UCLA men's volleyball's four-set loss to USC. (Elise Tsai/Daily Bruin)


Men's Volleyball


USC3
No. 6 UCLA1

In the end, the Bruins’ short-handed lineup couldn’t overcome the Trojans.

No. 6 UCLA men’s volleyball (2-2) fell to unranked USC (1-0) at home in four sets, by scores of 28-30, 30-32, 25-19 and 24-26.

Playing without numerous starting players because of injuries and COVID-19 protocol, the Bruins ran a starting lineup featuring several players out of position, including redshirt sophomore outside hitter Sam Burgi starting at opposite and redshirt junior setter Adam Parks playing middle blocker for the fourth consecutive match.

Partway through the second set, coach John Speraw opted to move redshirt senior outside hitter/setter Sam Kobrine, the team’s starting setter, over to opposite, while handing the setter duties over to redshirt freshman setter Marcus Partain. Kobrine responded with 14 kills, a career high.

“We’re so far down the depth chart that I honestly don’t know what we would do next,” Speraw said. “(Sophomore outside hitter/opposite) Cole Ketrzynski is out. (Redshirt sophomore opposite/outside hitter) Kevin Kobrine, out. (Redshirt freshman opposite) Kyle Vom Steeg, out. So you’re on your fourth opposite to start the match, and that’s not going well so you end up going to your fifth opposite, so that’s obviously challenging to the players.”

Despite Sam Kobrine’s career-best hitting night, UCLA struggled with overall hitting in its second consecutive defeat, posting a hitting percentage of .175 after hitting .152 in a loss to No. 1 BYU on Feb. 6. In the two victories this year, UCLA hit for .341 and .237.

Hits from the middle blockers – Parks, redshirt sophomore Daniel Matheney and redshirt junior Ian Parish – combined for four kills and seven errors on 15 attacks, for a hitting percentage of -.200.

“Our middle blocker play has to get better, and I have some empathy there – obviously we’re down a bunch of guys there,” Speraw said. “Parks is doing the best job he can as a setter in the middle. (Redshirt freshman outside hitter/opposite Merrick McHenry) is out another match, so hopefully we’ll get him back soon and he can ramp up and be available, but we need to play better volleyball in the middle, no doubt about it.”

Defensively, however, the Bruins showed improvement in the last two sets compared to the first two. After USC hit .353 after the first two sets, UCLA held it to a .065 percentage in the third set and .194 in the fourth set. Ten of the 14 Bruin blocks happened in the final two sets, and Parks and redshirt senior outside hitter Austin Matautia led the team with five blocks each.

Sam Kobrine attributed the defensive improvement in the last two sets to defensive adaptation from the middle blockers.

“Their middle blockers killed us in the gap in the first two sets, and we made an adjustment where our middles were going to take that away and force them to do something else,” Sam Kobrine said. “That’s the reason you saw such a dramatic change from the first two sets to the last two.”

In the end, UCLA equaled USC in points scored, yet lost three overtime sets by a combined six points. The Bruins had two set points in the first and second sets but lost both sets, with the final point of each of those sets being an attack error.

“We had an opportunity to capitalize on one of those sets – we had a swing, and we didn’t finish it out, and you’ve got to take advantage when you have those chances,” Speraw said.

UCLA will get two more cracks at its crosstown rival next week, playing matches at USC on Thursday and Saturday.

 

Sports staff

Deng is currently a Sports staffer on the men's volleyball beat. He was previously a reporter on the gymnastics and women's volleyball beat and a contributor on the cross country and track & field beats.


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