This post was updated April 18 at 8:01 p.m.
Cooper Robinson rose through the air in the first set to deliver his fifth kill of the night.
His effort was quickly thwarted by the Trojan defense – but not enough to deter the outside hitter.
In a tone-setting move, the redshirt sophomore elevated again to create an impenetrable wall, one Jack Deuchar’s kill could not puncture.
Robinson’s defense helped No. 1 seed UCLA men’s volleyball (23-4, 11-1 MPSF) tear through No. 6 seed USC (13-15, 3-9) 3-0 in Thursday’s MPSF semifinals at the Galen Center.
After allowing the Trojans to jump to a .200 hitting percentage in the first set, the Bruin defense held their opponents to a -.042 hitting percentage in the second frame.
Despite a lackluster start to the match – a first set that featured a game-high nine ties and two lead changes – the Bruins led for every single point of the second and third sets with only two total ties between the two frames and suffocated the Trojans to ensure they wouldn’t create another lead in the contest.
“There were a bunch of scoring opportunities that we did not take advantage of early, which was very uncharacteristic,” said coach John Speraw. “It’s natural to have a little bit of nerves and natural to be a little jumpy, so I didn’t think we were very sharp, but we got better.”
Coach John Speraw’s unit centralized its defensive prowess to USC’s primary pin hitter in Deuchar. After posting a 30-kill performance against BYU in the first round of the conference tournament, the Bruins held Deuchar to just 11 kills on a .227 clip Thursday night.
“Our defense has definitely improved. We are working on defense a lot more in practice, and we’re definitely super in touch,” said redshirt senior middle blocker Merrick McHenry.
The Bruin defense was spearheaded by a libero tandem of sophomore Coleman McDonough and redshirt senior outside hitter Alex Knight, together adding eight digs to the board. Atop 10 blocks – a figure seven Bruins contributed to – Robinson and middle blocker Guy Genis sprinkled in a solo block each, providing the dynamism at the net for UCLA.
On the other end of the court, McHenry and redshirt junior outside hitter Grant Sloane drove the Bruins’ offense. Sloane and McHenry – both of whose time in Westwood is ticking down – contributed 10 and nine kills on .667 and .250 clips, respectively.
To round out its reign at the Galen Center, Speraw’s crew responded to the head honcho’s repeated demand – pressure from the service line. UCLA commanded behind the line, drilling in seven aces to the Trojan’s zero on a do-or-die stage.
UCLA’s victory over USC marks its third conquest over its crosstown rival this season – as well as its 12th win in a row, the team’s longest streak of 2024. UCLA has dropped just eight sets en route to the feat, including a triumph over every MPSF team – a result Robinson said was accredited to the team’s depth.
“We have guys who can play any position. We have Grant Sloane – who is an outside and now he’s an opposite – and we have McQuiggan who just came in and is killing it,” Robinson said. “We have a very deep team that keeps us very competitive in practice, so it makes us better each day.”
