UCLA Brushes Aside Pepperdine
In this strange, wide-open men’s volleyball season, no team has been more unpredictable than UCLA.
The Bruins have suffered head-scratching losses to Loyola Marymount and Cal State Northridge, but defeated most of the top teams in the nation.
On Saturday night, the Bruins looked good as ever, defeating Pepperdine, 15-9, 12-15, 15-13, 16-14, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Pauley Pavilion.
Evan Thatcher had 21 kills and the No. 4-ranked Bruins (23-5, 13-4 in MPSF play) overcame late deficits in the third and fourth games to win the match.
Scott Wong and Andre Breuer each had 20 kills for Pepperdine (18-4, 14-3), ranked No. 1 in the nation.
The Waves had a chance to assert themselves in the battle for home-court advantage throughout the MPSF tournament. Now, they’ll need some help.
They trail Long Beach State (22-3, 15-2) by a match with two left to play. Long Beach State, which plays host to UCLA and plays at USC, has the tiebreaker over Pepperdine because of a five-game victory over the Waves last month.
The Waves’ final regular-season matches are against Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
