Jan. 12, 2008
Box Score
Los Angeles, Calif.- The Pacific men's volleyball team fell to #4 UCLA on Saturday Jan. 12, 3-0 in Pauley Pavilion, in their second match of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play.
The loss drops Pacific to 0-4 on the season, and 0-2 in MPSF play, while #4 UCLA improved to 4-1 overall, and 2-0 in MPSF Play.
Game scores for the match were 30-25, 30-21, 30-27.
The Tigers began game one the same way that they have all season, with a close, competitive, back and forth battle. Two early kills from senior Simon Chen-Byerley (Northfield, Ill.) pushed the Tigers to a quick 6-3 lead. UCLA battled back with three of the next four points and the game remained close until the 13-13 mark. Unfortunately for Pacific, UCLA nabbed four straight points to take a 17-13 lead and never looked back as the Bruins took the first game, 30-25. Chen-Byerley led the Tigers with four kills on seven attempts in game one.
Game two saw the Tigers stumble out of the gate early. Service errors plagued Pacific in the game, and the Tigers found themselves in a 12-5 hole. Two kills from senior Pekka Seppanen (Kuopio, Finorland) kept Pacific in the game, however the offensive firepower of UCLA's Garret Muagututia kept the Tigers' offense at bay throughout the whole game. Seppanen and sophomore Clay Ostrander (Wheaton, Ill.) had four kills each for the Tigers, but Pacific dropped the game 30-21.
With a much needed win in game three, the Tigers' offense came to life. After an early battle for the lead, Pacific took the control of the game 20-17. UCLA did not back down and rallied behind their offensive attack, earning seven of the next eight points to make the score 24-21 in favor of the Bruins. Hitting errors hindered the Tigers during the Bruins charge, as once again Garret Muagututia led the Bruin's charge to victory, 30-27. Seppanen led the Tigers in game three with an impressive five kills on nine attempts.
Seppanen led Pacific with 10 kills in the match, while Chen-Byerley finished with nine kills.
Garret Muagututia led all attackers, finishing with 19 kills for the Bruins.
Pacific returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 16 as the Tigers host USC in their home opener in the Alex G. Spanos Center at 7 p.m.
