LONG BEACH, California — Zach Rama and UCLA weren’t going to present Lengthy Seaside State an opportunity at one other reverse sweep.
The sophomore from Phoenix had all three of his kills in UCLA’s last 5 factors Saturday because the Bruins got here away with a 25-21, 25-20, 27-29, 25-21 victory within the NCAA’s Nationwide Collegiate Males’s Volleyball Championship.
Not solely did UCLA repeat as nationwide champion, it capped a season after which coach John Speraw likened his crew to sewer rats. It’s actually price listening to and we’ll have the complete quote when this story is up to date.
And the final word sewer rat on Saturday may need been Rama. He performed within the first three units, however hardly ever touched the ball. He had no kills with one error in his first 4 swings. And late within the fourth, Speraw put him in for Cooper Robinson, who not solely had 12 kills, however led UCLA in hitting share for the match at .417.
“It needed to be executed,” Speraw stated.
The match was tied at 20 when Rama bought his first kill. He put his crew up 22-20 with one other. After teammate Merrick McHenry missed his serve, Rama struck once more. Two Lengthy Seaside hitting errors later UCLA celebrated.
“All I can say is I actually respect John Speraw for trusting me and placing me in there,” Rama stated. “Coop was having a fantastic sport, however we each deliver wonderful issues to the volleyball desk and we are able to each make performs at any given time.”
Rama, who was a reasonably good highschool basketball participant, had presents, the very best from Pepperdine.
UCLA of the MPSF ended its season 26-5 after sweeping Fort Valley State within the quarterfinals and beating UC Irvine in 5 on Thursday within the semifinals. This was UCLA’s twenty first title, the primary 19 below Al Scates, the 50-year coach who was changed by Speraw and who was right here Saturday.
Ethan Champion led UCLA with 15 kills, two assists, 4 digs and 6 blocks, one solo. Champlin was overcome with emotion after the victory.
Robinson had 12 kills and hit .417 to go together with two assists, an ace, two digs and three blocks. Merrick McHenry, as he had been all season, completed almost flawless on offense with 10 kills and one error in 11 assaults to go together with an ace, 5 digs and 5 blocks. Ido David had 9 kills, an help, three aces, eight digs and 4 blocks. Man Genis had 4 kills with one error in 9 assaults, 4 digs and 4 blocks.
Setter Andrew Rowan had 46 assists, an ace, three digs and two blocks. His crew hit .297 and had six aces and 21 serving errors.
Speraw has now received 4 titles as a coach, twice at UC Irvine (2009, 2012) and now two at his alma mater, the place he received two extra as a participant (1993, ’95).
Lengthy Seaside State of the Huge West completed 27-3 after beating Belmont Abbey within the quarterfinals after which pulling off a reverse sweep towards Grand Canyon.
Sotiris Siapanis led Lengthy Seaside with 12 kills, however he hit .161 and had no aces and 4 errors. He had 5 digs and two blocks. Skyler Varga had 11 kills however 10 errors to go together with 5 digs. Clarke Godbold, who got here in through the second set, had 9 kills, an ace, and 5 digs, one solo. Simon Torwie had eight kills in 14 errorless assaults, two aces, two digs and three blocks. DiAeris McRaven had 4 kills in eight errorless assaults and added a dig and 6 blocks, one solo.
Setter Aidan Knipe had 38 assists, eight digs and 4 blocks. His crew hit .214 and had 4 aces and 19 errors.