Never count out No. 1/1 UCLA and setter Andrew Rowan.
Rowan guided the offense to a .488 attack percentage in the final two games as UCLA rallied to beat No. 2/2 Long Beach State 16-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 15-10 on Friday in Long Beach, California.
UCLA after being limited to a .101 through the first three games committed one combined attack error in the last two games. In addition, the Bruins hit a match-best .529 with no errors during the decisive fifth game in front of a sold-out road crowd of 4,252 people.
The Bruins and Beach entered this match as the top two offenses in the nation and as two of the only five remaining undefeated teams in the nation. It also was the first meeting between the programs since Long Beach State swept UCLA in the NCAA Tournament finals last year.
UCLA out-hit Long Beach State .254 to .193 and had two players with double-digit kills in the non-conference comeback win.
Outside attacker Zach Rama in the non-conference victory finished with a match-high 21 kills on a .341 attack percentage. Rama had seven kills in the final game highlighted with three consecutive kills to start the game.
Outside attacker Sean Kelly contributed 14 kills against the Beach. In addition, Kelly’s final kill tied the fifth game at 8-8 and jumpstarted a 4-0 run that gave the Bruins a lead it would not relinquish.
This was the first time this season Long Beach State was held to less than a .300 attack percentage.
Libero Chris Connelly led all players defensively with 13 digs, while Kelly had 11 digs.
Middle attacker Christopher Hersh also had a match-high six blocks with two blocks coming in the final game.
Skyler Varga in the loss led Long Beach State with 12 kills, and both Alex Kandev and Danil Hershtynovich each had 10 kills. All three pin-hitters were held to less than a .200 attack percentage.
Despite the loss, Long Beach State finished with 10 aces – seven more aces than UCLA.
Four Beach players had multiple aces agianst the Bruins. Varga also had back-to-back aces in the fifth game to erase an early UCLA lead.
UCLA, though, was able to close out the comeback with a match-winning ace from Rowan.
Rama led all players with five kills in the fourth game, including two kills as part of a 5-2 run to open the game. The Bruins hit .464 en route to forcing a fifth game.
UCLA overcame a five-point deficit midway through the third game to avoid the sweep. Kelly finished with a game-high six kills and had kills in the final two UCLA points.
The Beach trailed 20-19 in the second game before going on a 4-0 run that featured an ace from Cryst. In addition, Kandev closed out the game with a kill off the UCLA block that initially called out but was overturned on a successful challenge.
Long Beach State limited UCLA to a match-worst negative-.136 attack percentage en route to the nine-point opening-game win.
Varga led all players with two blocks, including a solo block as part of a 7-1 run midway through the game.
This non-conference match was preceded with the Beach recognizing former coach Alan Knipe during a prematch ceremony.
Knipe led Long Beach State to all four of its NCAA champions – one as a player and three as its head coach. The Hall of Famer after guiding the Beach to the national championship last season opted to retire in December.