No. 1/1 UCLA offense, serving too much for No. 7/6 Penn State

Not even a bloody face and jersey could slow down setter Andrew Rowan.

Rowan guided the offense to a .354 attack percentage as No. 1/1 UCLA swept No. 7/6 Penn State 25-20, 25-19, 25-15 on Saturday at the First Point Collegiate Challenge on Saturday in Austin, Texas.

The match was delayed for a few minutes in the opening game after a ball hit Rowan in the face causing his nose to bleed. The blood also got onto Rowan’s jersey, and the Preseason All-American had to swap out his No. 7 jersey for a backup No. 26 jersey for the remainder of the match.

UCLA in the victory had three players finish with at least five kills and more than .400 attack percentage.

Outside attacker Alex Knight had a matc-high nine kills and hit.412. Outside attacker Zach Rama also had six kills and zero errors on a .750 attack percentage, while middle attacker Merrick McHenry had five kills and no errors on a perfect 1.000 attack percentage.

Opposite Ido David added six kills along with a matc-high three aces.

UCLA ended the match with six aces, while holding Penn State to a season-low zero aces.

Penn State in the loss hit .171 and was limited to less than a .150 attack percentage in each of the last two games.

Outside attacker Will Kuhns led the Nittany Lions with nine kills on a .400 attack percentage. In addition, middle attacker Toby Ezeonu added five kills and a team-best .500 attack percentage.

UCLA committed one attack error and hit a match-best 471 attack percentage in the final game to secure the sweep.

Knight in the second game had a game-high five kills. Knight also had two blocks in the game, including a block to help jumpstart a 5-2 run to close out the game.

Sean McQuiggan led UCLA with four kills in the opening game. McQuiggan also had two kills as part of a 6-1 run midway through the first game to give the Bruins a six-point lead.

This victory comes a day after the Bruins suffered their first loss of the season. Ohio State rallied from a two-game deficit to beat UCLA in five games during the opening game of the First Point Collegiate Challenge.