Opposite Cooper Robinson said during the postmatch news conference he could tell in warm-ups that middle attacker Sean McQuiggan was fired up and dialed in for the match.
The MPSF Player of the Year wasn’t wrong about his long-time team.
McQuiggan finished with a match-high seven blocks as the No. 3 seed UCLA swept the No. 2 seed Hawai’i 25-14, 25-23, 25-23 in the NCAA Tournament semifinals on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
The senior delivered three blocks in the second game, including the game-winning block to prevent the game from going into overtime. McQuiggan also had two solo blocks in the final game to help the Bruins complete the sweep.
UCLA in the victory out-hit Hawai’i .370 to .188 – limiting the Rainbow Warriors to less than a .200 attack percentage for the first time this season.
Along with running the offense, All-American setter Andrew Rowan had contributed four blocks. Both Robinson and middle attacker Cameron Thorne contributed three blocks.
Freshman outside attacker Sean Kelly led all players defensively with eight digs.
Kelly also had a match-high 13 kills on a .435 attack percentage. The freshman had committed one attack error through the first two games and had a game-high six kills in the second game.
Outside attacker Zach Rama added 10 kills, while Robinson had nine kills on a .304 attack percentage.
Hawai’i outside attacker Adrien Roure in the loss had a team-high 12 kills on a .333 attack percentage. Roure, though, was the only Rainbow Warrior to have both at least five kills and hit more than .100.
UCLA led by as many as six points early in the third game, but Hawai’i rallied to cut the deficit to 15-13. The Bruins responded to take a 21-15 lead and the Rainbow Warriors then went on a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to open point.
The Bruins, though, were able to capitalize one two Hawai’i errors and Robinson had the match-winning kill.
UCLA trailed the second game 23-22 before scoring three consecutive points to close out the game and take a two-game lead.
McQuiggan had a kill to tie the game and then two plays later had the game-winning block. In addition, McQuiggan in the run had an assist on an out-of-system kill to set up the game-point opportunity.
Hawai’i was limited to a .048 attack percentage in its 11-point opening-game loss.
UCLA early in the game went on a 6-0 run that featured an ace and a kill from Robinson. Robinson finished with a game-high four kills, while Kelly had three kills.
UCLA with this victory will advance to play the No. 1 seed Long Beach State in the NCAA Tournament finals on Monday. Long Beach State rallied to defeat the No. 5 seed Pepperdine in four games in its semifinal match on Saturday.
This will be the second consecutive year that the Bruins and Beach will meet in the NCAA Tournament finals.
Long Beach State lost that finals on its home court last year but beat UCLA in both their regular season meetings this year.