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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team dropped a four-set match to fourth-ranked UCLA, 27-30, 30-25, 30-26, 30-25, Thursday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest between two of the top six teams in the country at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

The No. 6 Warriors (6-4, 4-3 MPSF), who saw their four-match win streak come to an end, were led by Jonas Umlauft's 16 kills while Steven Hunt added 15 kills and hit .379. Libero Rick Cervantes had a match-high 16 digs.

 

Garrett Muagututia paced UCLA (5-5, 4-3 MPSF) with 21 kills on 43.2 percent hitting. Four other Bruins recorded seven or more kills and as a team, UCLA hit .356 compared to .229 for Hawai'i. The Bruins also posted 16 team blocked led by Nick Vogel's 11.

 

Both teams combined for 51 service errors (27 by UCLA, 24 by UH).

 

In Set 1, the Warriors jumped out to an 11-6 lead before the Bruins caught them at 18-18. UH answered back with a 6-1 run with consecutive points off an Umlauft kill and ace for a 24-19 lead. Four straight Bruin points got UCLA to within 24-23 but the Warriors responded with kills by Joshua Walker and Umlauft and UH held off the Bruins for the 30-27 victory.

 

The teams traded leads for the first half of Set 2 before the Bruins used a 6-1 run – fueled by three straight blocks – for a 19-14 lead. The Bruins sided-out with UH the rest of the way for a 30-25 win.

 

In Set 3, the Warriors led at the midway point 15-11. Moments later, Hawai'i reeled off three straight points to push its lead to 19-13. However, the Bruins fought their way back to tie the set at 22 and took their first lead at 26-25. Walker hit out on the next play and a kill by Jeremy Casebeer gave UCLA a 28-25 lead. The Bruins ended it with another Casebeer kill and Umlauft hitting error.

 

The Bruins closed out the match with a four-point surge in the middle of Set 4. With the score tied at 12, UCLA scored four straight – two on UH hitting errors – for a 16-12 lead. With UH head coach Charlie Wade tinkering with his lineup, the Warriors rallied to within 22-21. However the Bruins scored the next three points and built their lead to 28-23.

 

The teams will play again on Friday. First serve is 7:00 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.