UCLA men's volleyball beats LBSU 3
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Ethan Champlin had 15 saves and six blocks, Merrick McHenry added 10 kills on .818 hitting with five blocks and No. 1 seed UCLA beat Long Beach State 25-20, 25-21, 27-29, 25-21 Saturday to win its second consecutive NCAA men’s volleyball championship.
UCLA (26-5) has won 21 NCAA men’s volleyball titles, the most all time. Second-place Pepperdine has five championships.
Zach Rama’s back-to-back kills gave the Bruins, ranked No. 2 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the lead for good at 22-20 in the fourth and final set. McHenry followed with a service ace that pulled top-ranked and No. 2 seed LBSU within a point and another kill by Rama — his third and final point of the match — made it 23-21 before consecutive attack errors by Long Beach State’s Skyler Varga sealed it.
Cooper Robinson hit .419 and finished with 12 kills and three blocks for UCLA. Andrew Rowan added 46 assists and two blocks and Ido David had nine kills, eight digs, four blocks and three service aces.