Noise.
Nonstop noise.
26-25.
Senior middle blocker Cameron Thorne and sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly rose to the net for a set-point block against opposite hitter Wojciech Gajek to take the third.
And as the point margins tightened in the final set, the Beach’s serves and attacks continued to sail long, review calls piled up, and boos from the stands followed rallies that felt like they could tip either way.
But any push from the Beach was short lived.
With outside hitter Alex Kandev’s swing error in the final set, No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball (12-0, 3-0 MPSF) sank No. 2 Long Beach State (9-2) in four sets Friday night, just two weeks after overcoming the Beach on the road in a reverse sweep at a sold-out Walter Pyramid, which prompted an added rematch.
Related: [UCLA men’s volleyball defeats Long Beach State in reverse sweep match]
Pauley Pavilion drew its largest – and loudest – crowd of the season, and the noise did not die down after the first serve.
“We thought the crowd really energized us,” said coach John Hawks. “Just really proud of the way the guys stepped up and obviously executed the game.”
Following the first matchup in which the Bruins came back from a 2-0 deficit, Hawks’ squad created much more separation this time around, holding the Beach to a .277 hitting percentage, compared to their .363 season average.
The Bruins notched a .447 overall clip – up from .254 two weeks ago – with Thorne posting season-highs of 13 kills and six blocks, swinging on a .813 clip. The Hollywood, Florida, local matched Kelly’s own 13 mark in just Thorne’s second double-digit kill performance of the season.
After their last meeting, in which UCLA committed 21 attacking errors, senior setter Andrew Rowan attributed some of the offensive woes to poor decision-making and a lack of offensive diversity.
But this time around, the Bruins opened the match on a 10-4 run behind early kills from Thorne, Kelly, senior outside hitter Zach Rama and junior middle blocker Micah Wong Diallo.
Diallo – who didn’t play in the last match against the Beach – notched six kills on a .333 clip and three block assists.
Rowan spearheaded the collective effort with 41 total assists.
With the Bruins winning the opening frame by 10 points – tied for their second-largest set victory this year – the Beach sustained their largest set deficit of the season.
But the tide shifted.
The Beach began to tighten the margin in the second. Outside hitter Skyler Varga and Gajek – who started in place of opposite Daniil Hershtynovich – notched 11 combined kills, and Gajek, along with Kandev, recorded three combined service aces. Meanwhile, the Bruins committed small errors and displayed defensive gaps.
“We have to definitely go back in the lab and fix the little things in that second set for sure,” Thorne said.
However, not all of it went against the Bruins.
After hitting negatively in the last matchup against the Beach, redshirt junior opposite hitter David Decker posted a career-high five blocks and his second solo block of the season, making his presence felt to Varga.
“David is a wonderful human being, and he’s got an amazing heart,” Hawks said. “He’s worked so hard, he wants to be good, and he knows he’s nowhere near where he can be – so the learning process can be tough.”
And while the middle unit showed progress and the attack production diversified itself, Rowan said that the right side remains a work in progress.
“We still have to get our right side going, and we talked about this last time, too,” Rowan said. “It’s on me, and it’s on him (Decker). Once we get our right side rolling, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.”
Kelly – who became a starter halfway through his first season for the Bruins – notched 13 kills on a .632 clip, elevating the back-row attack after Decker had stepped in as the starting opposite. Kelly is already only 11 kills shy of matching his total from his freshman campaign through just 12 games.
Although the noise inside Pauley Pavilion settled after match point, the rivalry has not.
“They have a lot of great guys, a lot of great pieces,” Thorne said. “We’re going to see them in the end, no doubt.”
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