USC
UCLA
UCLA Men's Volleyball Sweeps USC
February 03, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 3, 2012
Gonzalo Quiroga had 10 kills and UCLA recorded 15.5 blocks as the Bruins' No. 3-ranked men's volleyball team swept No. 4 USC, 27-25, 25-15, 25-23, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (Feb. 3) in USC's Galen Center.
UCLA won its ninth straight match to improve to 11-1 overall and 6-0 in the MPSF, while USC fell to 5-4 overall and 4-4 in the MPSF.
The win snapped USC's 5-match winning streak over UCLA and was just the Bruins' third victory over the Trojans in the past 12 meetings. It was UCLA's first sweep over USC since 2007.
The match marked retiring UCLA coach Al Scates' final regular season visit to USC in his 50-year career. He was presented with an honorary USC jersey in a pre-match ceremony that included current and former Trojan players and coaches.
For USC, Tanner Jansen had 12 kills, Tony Ciarelli had 10 kills, Steven Shandrick posted 5 blocks, Micah Christenson had a match-best 10 digs and Henry Cassiday had 8 digs. The Trojans hit just .041 in the match, their lowest hitting percentage in a match since 2008.
For UCLA, Thomas Amberg had 7 kills while hitting .600 and he added 5 blocks, Weston Dunlap had 7 kills (hitting .400) with 6 blocks, Nick Vogel had 6 kills (hitting .455) and 5 blocks, Kyle Caldwell had 6 blocks and 2 aces and Evan Mottram had 8 digs.
The first set seesawed throughout and USC was up 24-22 before UCLA scored 3 consecutive points, then at 25-25 back-to-back kills by Dunlap and Quiroga gave the Bruins the set. The second set saw UCLA use an early 5-0 run to build a 10-4 lead and the Bruins were never threatened while hitting .450. USC trailed 17-12 in the third set before tying the score at 20-20, but 3 unanswered points by UCLA gave the Bruins all the cushion they needed.
USC doesn't play again until next Friday (Feb. 10) when No. 8 Pepperdine visits the Galen Center for a 7 p.m. MPSF contest.
