The Bruins will advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday between UC Irvine (fourth seed) and Penn State (fifth seed) in the semifinals scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. During the regular season, the Bruins defeated both the University of California, Irvine and Penn State twice, with one match against each team going to five sets.
The Bruins, who entered the tournament as the top hitting team in the country, posted an offensive success percentage of .521, their second-highest mark of the season and their third time above the .500 level. Ethan Champlin Led a balanced Bruin attack with eight kills and a .400 percentage. Merrick McHenry and Ido David They each added seven kills and hit .778 and .636, respectively.McHenry's mark was 25.th He has hit over .400 many times over the past 26 games.setter andrew rowan He led the team with six digs and marked the 17th time in 2024 that the team's offensive success percentage was at least .350. Guy Genis Hit .400 with 3 kills, which was his 13th kill.th Games of the year over .300.
Champlin's kill ended a long rally, giving UCLA a 6-3 lead in the first set. A few errors by Fort Valley State allowed the Bruins to extend the lead to 4 for his 8. Rowan went 6-for-9 with kills and an ace for a four-point advantage. Rowan's strong serving continued, with kills from Champlin and McHenry making it 15-7. McHenry's service winner gave UCLA a 17-8 lead. David's ace made it 19-10. cooper robinson Connected to 22-12. McHenry's kill increased the lead to 10 points at 23-13. After several service errors and net violations, the Bruins won 25-14. UCLA outscored the Wildcats .524 to .040.
Four service errors by the Bruins early on gave Fort Valley a 6-8 advantage. Kills by Genis and Champlin leveled the score at 10-all. Champlin also made an ace to take an 11-10 lead. Three consecutive kills by Robinson, David and Rowan gave UCLA its largest lead of the set at 14-11. Rowan and McHenry combined to block and David broke through the Wildcat block to make it 18-12. David/McHenry and David/McHenry/ Zach Lama The block gave UCLA a 22-12 lead. McHenry's smash brought the Bruins to set point at 24-14. A deep corner kill by Rama ended the set at 25-15. UCLA is hitting .469 per frame.
Rama's swing gave UCLA a 6-5 lead to begin the third set. Rama/McHenry block made it 9-6. McHenry's swing gave UCLA a 12-7 lead. A flurry of mistakes gave the Bruins a 14-9 lead. David's explosion widened the lead to 17-9. Champlin's putaway made it 19-11. sean mckigan He added a kill to make it 20-11. Rama's two swings gave the Bruins a 23-14 lead. Matthew Edwards and Luca Curci He got the next two kills and won 25-15.