The No. 4 UCLA Bruins (7-2) swept the No. 8 Men’s Volleyball team (2-4) 3-0 on Jan. 26 at UCLA their first victory over the Waves since February 2008.
Sophomore Maurice Torres scored 18 points during the match with 13 kills during the match. Torres also marked his 500th career kill a noteworthy accomplishment as he also leads the Waves with 110 kills this season. Collectively the team put together a .269 kill percentage compared to the Bruins’ .482 percent.
Senior Cory Riecks averaged a .36 kill percentage and 11 kills during the match one of the highest for the Waves. Despite some strong individual performances the Bruins controlled the match taking set after set.
Traditionally the Waves had a solid defense and impressively organized attack. Within the past few matches however the attack has been much less effective despite having a relatively consistent kill percentage. Against the Bruins and also in previous games the Waves simply couldn’t find the seams to convert their strikes into kills.
This loss against the UCLA marks the Waves’ fourth consecutive loss dropping them further in national standings. Beginning the season earlier in January they were ranked No 3. With each loss they have dropped in both national and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation ranking now finding themselves last place at 0-4 in MPSF standing.
Despite their difficulties the Waves are looking to turn around their season with a win against UC Santa Barbara this Friday. They next return home on Feb. 4 to face UC San Diego at 7 p.m
