COSTA MESA – Vanguard welcomed second-ranked and two-time defending NCAA men's volleyball champion UCLA to the Freed Center on Thursday, and the Lions battled but came up short in a 25-18, 25-22, 25-18 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation loss.

Nick Dvorak led the Lions with seven kills in eight errorless attempts for an .875 hitting percentage. Grant Dvorak added six kills and Phinehas Wiley had four. Micah Sybesma posted three kills, four blocks and an ace.

Brock Henderson and Sean Nguyen split setting duties with 14 and five assists, respectively.

UCLA was led by Sean Kelly with 11 kills and a pair of service aces. Trent Taliaferro handed out 31 assists and helped the Bruins hit .338 as a team.

The Bruins (13-3, 3-0 MPSF) won statistical battles in kills (37-23), assists (34-22), aces (7-2) and total blocks (8.5-5.0).

Vanguard fell to 6-10 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

What Happened?

Set 1 – Vanguard held the early lead as back-to-back assisted blocks by Sybesma and Wiley put the home side up 3-1. The Lions maintained a 6-5 edge when the Bruins reeled off five straight points off the serve of Kelly, who had a kill and an ace during the run.

The Lions pulled within 14-11 on a Sybesma swing, but UCLA scored four in a row to extend the advantage to seven.

VU managed to slice the deficit to 22-17 as reserve Gabriel Repplinger rifled an ace. But the Bruins notched three of the final four points, getting a kill from Ido David to secure the 25-18 triumph.

UCLA hit .346 in the frame, but Vanguard actually did better at .400 (9-3-15). The Lions committed four service errors, while the Bruins had five aces in the set.

Set 2 – The Lions led late, but the Bruins finished the stanza with an 8-3 run to take the 25-22 victory.

VU stormed out to a 5-2 lead, helped by two wayward swings from Bruin attacker Zach Rama.

The Lions extended their advantage to 8-4 off a Sybesma ace and maintained their four-point lead as Grant Dvorak's kill made it 9-5. The Bruins chipped away to get to 11-10, but the Lions collected the next two points on a Grant Dvorak putaway and a Sybesma block solo on Cameron Thorne.

VU stayed in front by three points at 14-11, 15-12, 16-13 and 17-14, but UCLA rallied with a mini 3-0 run to tie the score at 17-17 – two of the three points coming off Thorne kills.

The Lions used back-to-back kills from Nick Dvorak and Sybesma to go up 19-17. However, UCLA responded with four straight points, two resulting from the Bruin block. 

Down 21-19, the Lions did not fold and tied the score thanks to a UCLA service error and double block from Henderson and Sybesma.

But the Bruins scored their final four points on a VU service error and three attack errors to close out the Lions.

UCLA hit a modest .240 (11-5-25), but the Lions struggled to -.043 (7-8-23) efficiency.

Set 3 – The Lions fell behind 3-0 and 5-2 as UCLA seized the early momentum.

VU still trailed 9-7 following a Nick Dvorak kill, but a 5-2 UCLA run opened up a 14-9 lead.

The Lions appeared to be in trouble when a Kelly kill and VU attack error widened UCLA's lead to 18-12. But the Lions scored four of the next five points to creep within 19-16, as Nick Dvorak had a block and two kills during the run.

That would be as close as the Blue and Gold would get, as Luca Curci slammed three straight kills for the Bruins to get to match point at 24-18. A UCLA ace ended the match with the 25-18 victory.

What's Next?: The Lions pay a visit to Pauley Pavilion in a rematch with No. 2 UCLA on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.