Back-to-back for UCLA as Bruins top Beach for NCAA volleyball title

LONG BEACH, California — Zach Rama and UCLA weren’t going to give Long Beach State a chance at another reverse sweep.

The sophomore from Phoenix had all three of his kills in UCLA’s final five points Saturday as the Bruins came away with a 25-21, 25-20, 27-29, 25-21 victory in the NCAA’s National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship.

Not only did UCLA repeat as national champion, it capped a season that coach John Speraw likened his team to sewer rats. It’s really worth hearing and we’ll have the full quote when this story is updated.

And the ultimate sewer rat on Saturday might have been Rama. He played in the first three sets, but rarely touched the ball. He had no kills with one error in his first four swings. And late in the fourth, Speraw put him in for Cooper Robinson, who not only had 12 kills, but led UCLA in hitting percentage for the match at .417.

“It had to be done,” Speraw said.

The match was tied at 20 when Rama got his first kill. He put his team up 22-20 with another. After teammate Merrick McHenry missed his serve, Rama struck again. Two Long Beach hitting errors later UCLA celebrated.

“All I can say is I really appreciate John Speraw for trusting me and putting me in there,” Rama said. “Coop was having a great game, but we both bring amazing things to the volleyball table and we can both make plays at any given time.”

Rama, who was a pretty good high school basketball player, had offers, the best from Pepperdine.

UCLA of the MPSF ended its season 26-5 after sweeping Fort Valley State in the quarterfinals and beating UC Irvine in five on Thursday in the semifinals. This was UCLA’s 21st title, the first 19 under Al Scates, the 50-year coach who was replaced by Speraw and who was here Saturday.

Ethan Champion led UCLA with 15 kills, two assists, four digs and six blocks, one solo. Champlin was overcome with emotion after the victory.

Robinson had 12 kills and hit .417 to go with two assists, an ace, two digs and three blocks. Merrick McHenry, as he had been all season, finished nearly flawless on offense with 10 kills and one error in 11 attacks to go with an ace, five digs and five  blocks. Ido David had nine kills, an assist, three aces, eight digs and four blocks. Guy Genis had four kills with one error in nine attacks, four digs and four blocks.

Setter Andrew Rowan had 46 assists, an ace, three digs and two blocks. His team hit .297 and had six aces and 21 serving errors.

Speraw has now won four titles as a coach, twice at UC Irvine (2009, 2012) and now two at his alma mater, where he won two more as a player (1993, ’95).

Long Beach State of the Big West finished 27-3 after beating Belmont Abbey in the quarterfinals and then pulling off a reverse sweep against Grand Canyon.

Sotiris Siapanis led Long Beach with 12 kills, but he hit .161 and had no aces and four errors. He had five digs and two blocks. Skyler Varga had 11 kills but 10 errors to go with five digs. Clarke Godbold, who came in during the second set, had nine kills, an ace, and five digs, one solo. Simon Torwie had eight kills in 14 errorless attacks, two aces, two digs and three blocks. DiAeris McRaven had four kills in eight errorless attacks and added a dig and six blocks, one solo.

Setter Aidan Knipe had 38 assists, eight digs and four blocks. His team hit .214 and had four aces and 19 errors.

Back-to-back for UCLA as Bruins top Beach for NCAA volleyball title Volleyballmag.com.