No. 1 seed UCLA (30-2) and No. 2 seed Hawai'i (29-2) will be getting underway shortly (5:00 Eastern) in the NCAA men's championship match. The Rainbow Warriors will be going for their third straight national title. The teams met once during the season on March 12, with Hawai'i taking a 3-1 victory over UCLA in Honolulu.
Game 1 -- Tied 9-9. Ido David powering the Bruins with four kills thus far... Now 10-10... UCLA leads 12-11 with David up to six kills... 14-12 Bruins, David with seven kills... Hawai'i service error takes us to TV timeout with UCLA up 15-13... Hawaii goes on a run and seems to have the upper hand, leading 23-20. However, Bruins come back for 28-26 win... UCLA (.368, 19 kills, 5 errors, 38 attempts) outhits UH (.275, 16-5-40).
Game 2 -- UCLA leads 13-10... Now 15-10... ESPN2 announcers cite Bruins' block as helping them pull away a bit... Very few stuff-blocks for points thus far (Rainbows 2 [1 solo, 2 assists] and Bruins 1 [1 solo]). However, blocking game can slow down opponent through dampening and deflection... Also per ESPN2 announcers, UCLA siding-out better than UH for the match, 72-62%... Now 19-13 Bruins... Three straight for Rainbows, bringing them within 3... Now 19-17, thanks to some tough serving by UH setter Jakob Thelle, but he serves next ball into net... 21-18 UCLA... 22-20 Bruins... Dimitrios Mouchlias (rhymes with nucleus) with a kill to bring Hawai'i within 22-21... Now 23-22 Bruins... David hits long, making it 23-all... Long rally, UH with multiple swings and finally puts one away, 24-23... Tied again at 24-24... Hawai'i goes up 25-24, but serves into net... Mouchlias kill for 26-25... Alex Knight answers for UCLA, 26-all... Bruins airmail serve, 27-26 UH... Merrick McHenry answers for UCLA, 27-all... Guilherme Voss kill for 28-27 UH... UCLA tip to tie it again, 28-28... Mouchlias hits out of bounds, 29-28 Bruins... Rainbows answer, 29-all... David for 30-29... 30-all... UH block for 31-30... UCLA answers, 31-all... UH kill for 32-31... Hawai'i with multiple swings, Mouchlias puts one away for 33-31 win...
For Game 2, UCLA hits .349 (21-6-43) to .333 (16-4-36) for Hawai'i... Rainbows' Cole Hogland with 2.5 blocks on the night (1 solo, 3 assists)... TV announcers Paul Sunderland and Kevin Barnett calling Game 2 one of the best -- if not the best -- single games in NCAA finals history... I would go with 2015 Loyola vs. Lewis in Game 5 (if for no other reason than that it was the deciding game)...
Game 3 -- Still tight as ever, 10-all... Now 13-11 UCLA... 15-13 Bruins (on kill by David) at the TV timeout... David with 17 kills on the night (9 in Game 1, 4 in Game 2, 4 so far in Game 3)... 18-14 Bruins, T/O Rainbows... UCLA block gives it 20-15 lead... Block by Hogland (with Chaz Galloway) cuts UH deficit to 20-17... Now 21-19 UCLA... Now 23-19... 24-20, game-point Bruins... UH saves one, but David with a kill to win it 25-21...
David hitting .371 (20-7-35) through three games... J. R. Norris (.889, 8-0-9), Knight (.385, 11-1-26), and McHenry (.385, 8-3-13) also getting it done for the Bruins... Voss (.625, 6-1-8), Hogland (.667, 6-0-9), Mouchlias (.333, 15-3-36), and Galloway (.333, 8-2-18) pacing Hawai'i.
Game 4 -- UCLA leading 7-5 Tied at 6-6 (call reversal)... 8-7 Rainbows... Good Knight! Big block ties it for UCLA... Norris with back-to-back aces to make it 10-8 Bruins... Now 15-11 UCLA... 15-13... 16-13 Bruins... 16-15 UCLA (pending review of whether spike was in or out)... 17-14 UCLA... 18-14 Bruins, as UH blocker touches antenna with his hand -- in 50 years of watching volleyball, I've never seen that particular violation be committed! 19-14 on another David kill... UH within 19-16... 21-16 UCLA, as Norris records fourth ace... 23-18 Bruins, as program's 20th NCAA title looking highly likely... Now 23-20... Hawai'i serves into net, 24-20, four match points for UCLA... UH saves one... Bruins take next point for championship (25-21) but Hawai'i challenges... Challenge rejected, UCLA wins its first NCAA title since 2006, the 20th in program history...
Final box score.
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