Long Beach State vs. UCLA: 2018 NCAA men's volleyball national championship | FULL REPLAY

santa monica pier about eight and a half miles away or about 30 minutes depending on the time of day long beach state taking on ucla the bruins under john sparrow who won a national championship here back in 1991 26-7 he went away to earn his spurs if you will at nearby uc irvine where he won three national championships currently also the usa olympic team coach and speaking of that alan knight in his 15th year at long beach state coached the united states olympic team in 2012. he's the 2017 and 2018 abca coach of the year ucla in their blue uniforms oliver martin six foot ten redshirt senior middle blocker we'll get things started and off the block and on the sideline and the first point goes to ucla and will we see a challenge right away that's the question only three challenges per match so they are worth their weight in gold now they reversed it wow they reversed the call the linesman talked to the second referee that falls out of bounds from the ucla no no you can generally tell by the players reaction everybody's excited it's for the national championship be interesting to see how they use the challenges too men's coaches do not have it during the season fortunately these two men have had it international overpass coming to falco number 11 in white last year's national player of the year rips that for the opening point for long beach state best three out of five sets first four sets to 25 points you know there's been a lot of women's volleyball on television the last several years 15 substitutions in their game but the men play strictly by international rules only six subs it makes for a different looking game here's to aniga and two aniga misses that ball over the end line josh kueniga six foot four junior out of long beach he was as you mentioned kevin this year's player of the year yeah he deserved that honor watching him set his team a number of times this season the pace was outstanding mike six foot three junior out of kennedy hawaii will go back to serve one-on-one tattoos the end line paul somebody asked me today about what do you do as a player when you're coming into this national championship situation how do you treat your day i said listen you're 80 of the way ready to play during the day you're trying to distract yourself when you get to the warm-up you're about ready when you step out on the floor now is who can gain that 20 percent back to be 100 comfortable quickly both these teams have been kind of climbing to this situation the falco misses that ball out of bounds tj torrey james defalco six foot four junior out of huntington beach both of these teams really like to rip the jump serve jake arnot six foot ten senior but poor belinda will go back to sir good touch there look at the craftiness josh tuanega the creativity there setting the ball with just one hand kevin yeah he makes some amazing plays and not even not only the plays here but the choices as well look where he put that one a little flash and flare from two aniga nsing's been playing with him since 14 years old or so kyle ensign number five already with a couple of kills he averages 3.5 percent get used to that out of the middle number 16 dinan kofi jimmy why this is dirty bjorn is there look at him the middle is there no chance dana gemma hit over 500 for the season that was number one among all ncaa volleyball players and he was a huge part of the offense as well it wasn't as though he did it on a limited number of sets he's off the edge of the block and out of bounds undersized six foot one senior out of norway he's going to be your x factor for long beach you pretty much know what you're going to get out of number five number 10 and number 11. you don't know necessarily what you're going to get out of that other guy if hoos has a good game long beach win three-headed monster for long beach state to amiga and this young man right here kyle ensign six foot seven junior out of valencia a first team all-american and already long beach state with three service errors ucla has only earned one point you have to go after it against ucla if you let them set the middles you're going to be in real trouble there is hessenauer back to serve christian hessenauer six foot five senior [Applause] ripping down the line there was not a lot of room down that line and who's turned it perfectly that's not a bad block from he's in a pretty good spot that's just a thing of beauty long beach state hit 379 on the year ucla just behind second in the ranking at 351 efficiency easy jumpsuit off the edge of the block and out of bounds defalco was there but give the kill to oliver martin [Applause] martin also had an outstanding season not used quite as much as gemma but also hit up into the 400. dylan misery six foot four junior out of holbrook new york ucla after a pretty good start serving insane ripping into the cross court four quick kills already for number five violence might fly under the radar for a lot of volleyball fans they hear his name but they hear more about the falco to aniga but kyle ensign takes some really high and smart swings i saw him in the semis just snap balls to spots with some pace and get long beats and jam [Applause] this is what long beach wanted to do they wanted to get to number 17 christian hessenauer early they feel like if they can shut him down early they can stand a pretty good chance he did the same thing to jake haynes of osu ohio state in the semis got to him kind of took him out as a factor haynes came back as the match wore on that serve is missed by the six foot eight freshman out of denmark a lot of international players sprinkled throughout college volleyball byu a couple of starters from brazil and one from puerto rico nothing new for the cougars that's been going on for 20 years it has for ohio state both of their outside hitters from france [Applause] ucla a chance to convert good soft block [Applause] defalco tucking inside but martin unable to make the defensive stab you're watching number 11 and why tj defalco he is going on to an international career he had offers after this year after he spent time with the national team playing at the highest level over this last summer had to decide if he's coming back to school he'll be back next year but then he'll be on the international stage for a long time there's two to aniga second time through the service line [Applause] net violation yeah loud in here you could barely hear the whistle in long beach state head coach alan knight saying wait a minute my players are saying no net that's one of the areas that can be challenged well and don't do this early don't start arguing with the referees somebody touched the net it happened allen knight even coming up and telling his players that happened move along jt hatch spectacular play defensively at the liberal position for ucla wearing the off-color jersey i was talking to john spurov fine head coach for ucla about the bruins serving strategy he said well we just want to be really aggressive i go but john you miss five percent he said he said we looked at the numbers when we missed fewer than that we have less success so you just gotta serve tough in the modern men's game if you let teams pass the ball perfectly you're in desperate trouble [Applause] defalco dialing up the ace what makes cj defalco special his overall gameplay is outstanding but his arm he's not the highest jumper he's not getting way off the floor you're not going to notice him in warm-ups not respect but you will notice his arm his ability to snap and locate the ball 52 aces on the year now for t.j defalco and long beach state we'll step aside the 49ers over the bruins 11-7 [Music] beautiful early evening here in westwood the home of the ucla bruins let's take a look at the rules for this one mentioned best three out of five sets only six substitutions the challenge system will be in effect two time outs per team per set missed that ball out of bounds one kill one soft block one error that's a win for long beach thus far in terms of slowing down number 16. jimma was 13 of 16 on thursday night with only one error you can win over byu or you can call friday if you want i will more on that in a moment thank you kevin that ball missed out of bounds danan kofi jima six foot eight sophomore from ontario canada we were talking to him the other day at practice and asked him about the nickname kofi said well my father is gennayan and it's for friday kofi is friday and uh somebody asked well what percentage of you know the ghanaians are nicknamed kofi he said about a seventh exactly exactly it's a very quick answer he's a very bright young man and maybe has a bright future in the music business yeah the music business gonna be a tough choice for him he's an excellent producer as well as artists big lead here for long beach state amato the middle blocker back to serve with a wonderful staff [Applause] getting the stuff dylan misery with some help from gemma so far the stats from the first two times these teams met have really been a factor here long beach beats you with defense they'll get some blocks but they beat you with defense by creating opportunities for their offense ucla has not been able to really get a hold of the blocks they needed we've seen him hit twice and be just out of bounds that's the first one they've gotten programmed ahead three aces in the semi final on the three ball pressure and that tucked in side by martin and huss is helping a ton in that middle that tells you how much it was on the scouting report they are giving up a lot to the right side of the court with that left side blocker nearly standing next to the middle they know that's where ucla wants to go just a sophomore he's a first-team all-american this year his serve has made incredible strides this year smart shot by ensign taking a little off that ball pulled out by the linesman down by our up referee [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that's this high nice swing look at how high that ball is it's not about how high you jump it's about how high you can contact the ball and i've watched this young man contact the ball high time and again fencing leading the way for the 49ers of long beach state five kills on seven swings that's going to be a service ace that ball was filthy full speed not a ton of topspin this is not a true ball it's got a little curve to it that one's tough you're trying to judge the angle as well as whether it's in or not how much spin is it going to come down and it gets on you in a hurry and seeing 32 aces now on the season against just 55 errors that's pretty efficient make it 56ers well i've been totally impressed with the numbers in terms of the hard servers on that side if you go down to falco he has 51 aces coming in on 79 errors remarkable a 2-1 is generally acceptable even three to one nowadays for some of the servers that is ace to error ratio there is christian hessenauer the six foot five opposite for ucla and he plays opposite in the rotation with regard to the center has been pretty quiet so far they really need him taking the offense into his own hands he picks his spots josh tuanega feels this game listen he's been playing it since he was a kid his parents met in a wrecked pickup game in 1987. he's grown up on a volleyball court he can feel the flow of a play feel the flow of a rally know when to insert himself there's a wonderful job with that [Applause] and notice the pace this is something you say has worked on this season with christian hessenauer who's the odd man out the last two years in that 6-2 they've tried to go faster to number 17 on the right and if you're going to help in the middle that much that right side's open good adjustment by ma'am here's misery perfect pass anderson with a kill out of the middle number 13 in white mentioned out of denmark and we talked to alan knight about how this young star from denmark came all the way to long beach said look there are international recruiting services now and he kind of recruited us he came to visit us and before he left long beach he had signed his letter or committed i should say i don't want to get anybody in trouble if you find something you like jump on it the long beach state has the three stars that we've talked about when everybody goes wait a minute they're so solid they've integrated four new players into their starting lineup this year they remind me of the chicago bulls between the two generations fister is [Applause] ball set too tight [Applause] and sing is rejected second stuff block for ucla you notice that long beach does not let you get the easy points they don't make mistakes with their ball handling generally there was one and they followed up with another nice play to extend the rally you're going to have to make multiple plays in order to score points on the 49ers first time that nsing has been stopped on nine swings off the block and out of bounds defalco the kill sam jones quickly came on to serve and he will give way once again as the liberal returns for oliver martin look tj defalco two times an all-american only a junior what makes him so effective offensively his arm is outstanding his volleyball iq is unmatched at this level and he's a kid that can play at the international level in long time already trying to throw that one down that's an hour nicely done you could hear the touch high flat off the top of the block yeah cj turned he's a little frustrated i noticed earlier when he's yelling at the referee after the net call if i'm long beach i try and calm down number 11 right now if he gets a little too heated starts yelling at people starts getting a little frustrated he's out of his comfort zone out of his team's comfort zone i would try and rein him in just a little bit keep him intense but not over the top there is my up [Applause] if you watched ucla at all this year you saw dana gemma even from eight to ten feet be incredibly effective as a quick attacker he and mike ama have developed a wonderful relationship and an ability to connect from places that most middles and centers are not able ucla trailed 16 to 11. they have closed the gap now trailing by only three again and this is it out of bounds you still is going to live or die by the serve that is the way it goes for the bruins they have a lot of guys who can light it up it's kind of a three-headed beast when you go misery ma'a and jimma defalco hit 375 efficiency on the year that is ridiculous for an outside hitter at this level ridiculously good taking a little off a good arm and a volleyball iq deadly remind me of pasqual from spain years ago and opposite about the same size as tj who would dominate people with his array of shots his ability to read situations and score points long beach state leading once again by five 20-15 over the bruins [Music] just underway here in los angeles for the 49th ncaa men's volleyball championship number one long beach state a leader by five espn's coverage of the ncaa championships continues tomorrow with the ncaa beach volleyball championship at 2 p.m eastern time on espn for more information go to ncaa.com the official home of all 90 ncaa championships well these two teams coming off very different semi-finals for ucla it was a battle they controlled early and then kind of faded in the middle they would have to have a dramatic pick up in the third and then the fourth to take that victory over byu for long beach state they had a terrible matchup with ohio state they won on small margins around the stat sheet and the only big win in statistics in that match was for osu and it was aces they had 10. the falco with the chase [Applause] right side arnett's wearing number 15 in blue registers his first kill you think he's a real key yeah for ucla's hopes to pull off what would be an upset here's the simple thing arnis kills high balls you pass the ball and set the middle if you're ucla that wins the match for you this kid did an outstanding job coming in to serve in the semis grant moleski 6-9 freshman out of long grow illinois had an ace to win it to send him to the finals [Applause] subbed in twice two aces one error with a dig right on target off speed by eisenhower cuts it too sharply into the net unforced air you're gonna have to convert those plays those opportunities long beach state is efficient they don't let the ball hit the ground they score points in transition you have to convert your opportunities when you have them lewis richard from los angeles on to serve he has some heat heck of an arm and he's got some margin here with a five-point advantage [Applause] off the top of the block after another dig by defalco hey the point's going to go to ensing look at that set the location of that set it's going over his right shoulder he's got to put it towards the net this joshua negan he lays it up in perfect rhythm for kyle and thing to kill hencing now six of ten hitting 500 efficiency richard again tries to glow on the slam dunk i think state done a pretty good job of slowing him down absolutely i think dan and jimmy has to keep swinging don't get into this dunking situation they're trying to run a little push with him out in the front they're trying to push it out across from the middle blocker i would just get back to tighten him up right next to him and tell him to hit the ball 49ers two points away from taking the opening set coming right back a matchup set for mike there he could have had the easy set to the outside the dylan misery has done an outstanding job instead he went to hessenauer with hoos in front of him on the right well if anybody can get ucla back into this opening set it's kofi jima at three aces in the semi-final against byu [Applause] perfect pass and insane trying to get a little bit cute missed that one into the top of the tape but the lead is still five at 23-18 i like the play call [Music] long beach state hitting 455 ucla 217. oh ucla's got to have a hessenauer wow just a total shank set points now for long beach you cannot afford those mistakes in this match against the team and white ensign already has one ace [Applause] mystery nice swing over the top by number 12. look long beach state most likely because of their efficiency going to win this opening set but what does ucla want to accomplish here late a little momentum score a couple of real points dig a ball get a transition kill that's going to be the key they've had their opportunities misses that one and long beach state looking for their second ever ncaa championship is on the board here at poly pavilion third meeting of the year long beach state won the first two and allen knight knows where his bread is buttered a little friendly bump to josh tuanega tuaniga t.j defalco along with kyle insing long beach state takes the opening set 25-19 [Music] with a background of the iconic santa monica pier long beach state spinning on all cylinders 25 19 over ucla out hit the bruins with three aces to none for ucla back with kevin barnett on paul sunderland just a very talented but still relatively young long beach state team let's take a look at the players of the year the last couple of seasons and they've got two of them in tj defalco last year in two aniga this year no wonder that they've been number one all season with the addition of some really solid help around them yeah no doubt when you're carrying this kind of talent if you look down the names there nick scherzin who we just had eliminated the semifinals he's going to the french national team jeske sander those guys are on the national team for the united states crab is playing professionally for the united states and the beach these two guys defalco and tuniga are destined for the professional world but they still have unfinished business these guys felt like they could or maybe should have won a national title already before their junior season this has been a maturation process for these two guys along with kyle insect paulie pavilion and ucla hosting the men's ncaa volleyball championship for the 15th time i think these teams are quite similar in the way that they got to this matchup in that ucla also feels like over the last couple years they could have won a national title so i don't think either team is shocked by the fact they were here now in terms of their thinking to start the season john spura asking himself a lot of questions right now misery and our nets didn't get much going and it's got to be a shocker that jimmy would hit zero two kills two errors on eight swings this for the best attacker in terms of efficiency in all of college volleyball at over 500 533 to be specific yeah first time these two teams met ucla who you talked about their offense all year they hit 191 the defense for the beach carried the day 10 more digs than ucla had plus long beach hit 343. underway second set there is uh in that ball just on the end line and boy did he ever need that one swinging everything if you're dating gemma you hit everything right now no more fancy stuff no more pushes where you're out of your comfort zone stay next to the center and go right over the top of everybody like you've been doing all year that ball was close but clearly inside the end line left side to falco inside the block and away from our nets jordan molina did a nice job with keeping long beach in rhythm in the middle of that rally and he delivers the set here the sound is what you want to rewind and listen to when tj defalco contacts the ball that nice crisp contact is what you want to hear you know a player has power and control here's two aniga 28 aces on the year [Music] is stuffed nick amato six foot six senior with a stuff block there for long beach state the mission accomplished for long beach and their game plan they wanted to get to the opposite early they have done that essentially has four kills three errors on 11 attempts now his number shrinking quickly he struggled a little bit in the semifinals against byu 14 of 39 with 10 errors that's not good enough jimmy threw a seam in the block and down two quick kills for kofi jimmy had more than 400 attempts well more than 400 attempts on the season so it's not only the hitting percentage that's impressive which is generally the highest on the team by middle blockers but the number of times he got set he was used like an outside hitter in terms of number yeah that's a lot of swings for a middle attacker back row combination vr with the kill number four in white is the guy it's hard for other teams to pay attention to you have so much else to worry about with ensign and defalco he played very well in the semifinal in spite of being six foot one had a couple of big stuffed blocks against the 6-10 opposite for the buckox tough serve on the back row quick again t.j defalco and this is what will kill your opponents you get the opportunity with the overpass put it away first ball another perfect crisp swing from tj to falco against one block the bruin blockers on the outside not helping at all misery just kind of zoned out on the play everything's clicking for the offensive line right now you know hoos has gotten a couple of kills so you're now all of a sudden a little bit of attention to him you've already been burned by ensign to open this match you're sitting near 400 at that opposite spot and as the kill leader through one set so you as a blocker have so many things going through your head that's josh tuaniga playing with you he's pulling the strings you're you're the puppet [Applause] that ball served just out of bounds by gemma yeah tuanega as advertised very creative moves the ball around really good deception runs a wonderful offense as does his counterpart that we featured before first serve michael here's a motto i like his attitude number 10 josh it's enough to carry his side and intimidate your opponent and not enough to be [Applause] falco distracted out of the middle back that's a pretty good attempt there and good communication but unfortunately missed it in the top of the tape hey that's two guys who played together forever this is two guys who have played together since they were 14 years old playing on the 15s communicating in the middle of a play it's just a miss from him but an excellent opportunity those two created they played together as juniors and seniors at huntington beach high school in spite of the fact that the falco was home schooled throughout the course of his high school career their record they were undefeated that's right pretty good team though everything and zero all six of the starters on that huntington beach high school team are now playing division one somewhere here is ensign he was the early offensive star for long beach state and with the service ace ruins are in danger of getting a little overwhelmed i might call a timeout right now if i'm john straw just to stem the tide you know he's thinking about it four aces now for ensign in long beach state none for ucla [Applause] ucla a timeout burned in the second set and not because the score is all that big you're not down by that much but the momentum you can feel it's slipping away ucla needs to make a couple of plays here long beach state has been superior in every phase of the game so far and that's what ucla hangs their hat on from the service line and yesterday morning and for the last couple of weeks or so it has been dylan mystery working on his serve it's been a missing piece from the bruins from the line when they've been good number 12 has been putting pressure on other teams he was asking specifically for coaches to come over and give him input yesterday during practice ball tight to the net and off of anderson and out of bounds but all keyed again from the serve from misery and now the crowd is up so there goes the momentum for long beach if you're the 49ers you're going to have to try and reestablish if you're you're ucla you're trying to grab it right now you're trying to ride it for a few more points and it may not be in this rotation but over the next couple of rotations [Applause] one on one hughes off the block what a pass by defalco indeed d.j defalco is the best player in ncaa volleyball this year the best overall athlete [Music] and his ability to play different phases of the game no question of that spent last summer playing for ucla's head coach john sparrow on the u.s national team which is where he will be again this summer as a matter of fact john spura and tj defalco have a meeting one-on-one next tuesday to go over the summer schedule volleyball nations league coming up here starting about two weeks time for the men starts in about a week now for the women the international schedule butting up against the domestic collegiate program tied at eight second set long beach state won the first nice touch [Applause] nobody up you know i think that ball didn't have to go over mike said over over over but that counts as one contact when it carries through the block they're not going to call you for a double or pardon me two contacts when it carries through the block you can still set that i agree with you completely but that was the end of it another good choice by two aniga insing now with seven kills where's anderson [Applause] gemma there's just no way of stopping that and it's a very unique set it's not a traditional one it's higher it allows him time to unfold jim is long and he comes up and you watch him move on to sir you'll see how long and how much time it takes for him to unfold he gives a nice high toss that set in the middle is something learned between him tied at nine [Applause] again yeah and a little too slow that time for jay garnett he's not finished in time to meet the pace of that right side attack if he has just a moment more watch him here he's still going up and still reaching as the ball is being contacted you want to be there already your odds of getting a quality touch around [Applause] josh as a high school junior when he committed the long beat state did not have a jump surf he was a jump floater and alan knight said hey you're going to play for us especially as a left-hander you're going to develop a jump serve jimmy with a kill i think ucla is okay right now early in this set felt like it might get away from him i think they're in good shape dana jimmy with another ridiculously high kill how high can he touch he's over 12 foot round 12 4 12 3 something nosebleed territory barnett's number 15 in blue with the service error and what makes dan and jimmy really unusual is his jumpsuit most middles in the world juniors on up to the senior level international play do not have a good jumpsuit they don't have an arm capable of generating the momentum and the contact this young man is going to kill john sparrow when they play him in the sacred zones a couple years from now he's going to wonder why he made him so good when canada is hurt in the u.s again on the wrist away and there wasn't much real estate yeah he's going to join his national team where he's already had some spot duty and they're really an up-and-coming international team beat the united states in the world league finals last summer we have another kid sharon vernon evans played opposite this year had an outstanding summer before canada nearly got in here to ucla what would that have looked like another 6-8 12-6 touch for him [Applause] that ball's tight joust coming essen hour pushing what a smart play by ensing there nobody in front of him and the six foot seven junior out of valencia with the tap down that's a really difficult play for christian hessenaur he does a nice job of staying out of the net and staying out from a dangerous situation for everyone going under the net there is a motto long beach state back on top by one and now time you said you like the way you said ucla's back into this what have you seen that convinced you of that they're handling the ball and setting their middles that's what they're doing they're making plays flying around in other places jimmo really helped him get back on track both teams with nine gigs working hard at the defensive end mike follow through easy play to call net violation on the high flying ma'am yeah he just missed the ball a little bit and followed through with his arm watch he gets only half the ball but that's the kind of play that there are a fraction of the world of players that can make that move where you're coming inside crank your body back and get some heat on the thing his father would be happy yeah i was just going to say a two-time all-american and on the national team for a bit of time and his mother don't leave lisa out of there either a professional player in their own right ucla with the unforced air cannot afford that ucla much better so far in this second set hitting 300 and it slowed long beach down brought them back to earth just a little bit ensign already with nine kills and missed that out of bounds [Music] jt hatch with a good call there in jt hatch this season for libero for ucla played outside for a long period of time including the first time these two teams met he and dylan mystery were the outside hitters jake arnitz was on the bench it was a small lineup that they had for a long time they kept winning but hatch at libero just provides so many opportunities for others good pass again [Applause] number 13 in blue perfect timing you notice he's up there he's waiting he's at the top of his jump hovering when that ball is contacted that's how you do it tied at 14. and that ball missed out of bounds by misery number 12. a planetary ball a little side spin we have come to the media timeout we'll step aside the ncaa men's volleyball championships here from poly pavilion long beach stayed up one set tonight [Music] [Applause] long beach state won the opening set 25-19 ucla has come back nicely trailing by only one here at bali pavilion long beach state's only championship was a long time ago all the way back in 1991 over on the left-hand side of the screen current head coach alan knife was one of the stars along with brent hilliard yep some good names in there brett winslow there in the center with the trophy and on the left-hand side of your screen in the dark black shirt 91 team back together had a little free event down in long beach and bust themselves up here they were up here for the semis as well ran into one of the greats brent hilliard [Applause] both allen knife and john sprawl two of four player slash coaches to win a national championship rod wild at pepperdine and bob yoder at usc the other two [Applause] good rip into the cross court by our knits ucla needed that quite an accomplishment to win a national championship both as a player and as a coach sprawl also won one as an assistant coach for the legendary al skates who was here at ucla for 50 years john sparrow is only the second coach ever for ucla men's volleyball transition swing arnett's over the top dug by hoos [Applause] good swing up into the top of the block slam dink by jimmy now listen the referees sometimes will call this the other way they'll call you over this ball's on top of the tape you just have to have a little bit of it on your side that's pretty close you see michael he's putting both hands up that's the cause the ball is on top of the tape that the referee generally makes [Applause] so far with a very rare lead here 16 15. and that didn't last long one on one the falco with another kill yeah what else didn't last long was the time between the contact from tuniga to the swing of the falco that thing was on a frozen rope six kills now for last year's avca national player of the year ucla 26-7 on the year long beach state 27-1 their only blemish the late season loss in [Applause] boy hawaii a very slow start he has gone with the barney formula just swing away no matter what don't get intimidated listen nobody's touched you all year long beach day did an outstanding job early on and getting a hold of him he started tipping and it went into the net that's not his game that is his game right there let it come up to you rise up swing away after starting two of eight he's now seven for seven here in the second insane one-on-one missed it out of bounds will continue to serve the bruins leading 18-16 and a time-out called by long beach state the bruins right back in this championship match it's a luxury playing at home [Music] there have been a lot of upsets in gulf shores alabama side of the ncaa beach volleyball championships florida state beat hawaii advanced into the title match ucla beat usc in the double elimination format ucla will play hawaii tomorrow morning and then the winner will take on florida state for the ncaa championship incredible amount of volleyball happening this weekend there's an fibb event happening about 25 miles to the south maybe a little further down in huntington beach that's two and a half hours right now if you want to leave two and a half hours well the difference in this second set first set side out percentage first ball side out or first opportunity to side out for long beach 85 of the time they were siding out now only 70 for long beach and ucla has gone from 66 to 76 so they're all suddenly on top and a huge part of that has been kofi jima who collects another kill there eight kills in a row for number 16 for ucla yeah he was two for eight out of that first set and now he has 10. well and look at the hitting percentage for long beach state again the very best offense in the country 478 in the first set down to 211 here in the second oh nice dig by hatch but it can be nullified by a net violation okay long beach state's offense has really dropped off why i think ucla has done some good stuff with their block positioning and i think they've done some good stuff with their serve keeping long beach off the net [Applause] defalco having a good offensive match 7 of 10 right now back at the the streak for gemma comes to an end [Applause] nice dig by defalco scrambling in the back court oh and the ball drops now you feel he's feeling the home love right there after that rally that'll get you some pins and needles that'll run all the way through your entire body like electricity what a play by t.j defalco that ball carrying through gives you an idea just how good a player he is if you're wondering about the home court for ucla ncaa finals in poly pavilion i'll give you the numbers in just a moment quick this is the 11th time ucla has played in poly pavilion for an ncaa championship 9-1 previously their only loss to pepperdine time out called by long beach state jimmy on the bruins leading 21-18 oh you can feel the atmosphere you can feel this reminds me of playing in the olympic games when you have that crowd just ignite behind you when you feel the energy in the building like a rock star i can't imagine what it's like to be a rock star was that that argument would you want to be a professional athlete or a rock star i think you can channel things that way but ucla right now channeling the crowd making plays and they've gotten long beach to be a little more conservative in their swings you saw the last couple of times it was a net by jimmy that negated an easy dig and then it was a transition playoff another easy swing and used to they score in points it's definitely been keyed by kofi gemma and his production in this second set you saw his willingness michael maher's win is to go right back to him after a rough first set and that is smart setting for mike ama lots of times younger setters will have a tendency when something doesn't work in the first set even if it's worked all year they start looking for another solution don't look at this guy now he's hitting 471.71 hitting zero in the first set want to remind everybody tomorrow on abc we'll have game four between the warriors and the pelicans with golden state up two games to one our coverage begins at 3 p.m eastern with nba countdown presented by straight talk wireless as always everything is live on the espn app drew holiday former ucla bruins star having a very good year in the playoffs for uh the pelicans and anthony davis anthony davis is a monster just getting word that boston beat philadelphia in overtime so the injury-depleted celtics i think if he goes in the crowd it should be a souvenir the celtics anyway up over philadelphia three games to none now alex parks excuse me that is uh matt butler coming on to serve excuse me he's heated it up as well he's gotten off the block a little bit there i like the direction that essentially gives the ball here they have a phrase inside ucla volleyball it's pes smash kind of like hulk smash he not only hit it hard that time he also cut it across to face the block rather than going right to the meat of it serving specialist i guess we can call him that now after a couple in the semifinals grant maleski on ucla must close out this second set leading 22-19 missed it out of bounds and moleski actually played opposite the second time these two teams played one thing about those two matchups we've mentioned that long beach won both it was in the same week so i don't know how much we really learned about the development of the teams or anything changing this is the only real next match up i would lump those other two right together ensign with a couple of aces already trouble here to aniga [Applause] he will take preemptive timeouts internationally to offset a server or a situation and john does take a time out right here to aniga is a very crafty setter and also very effective offensively as well he had five kills on nine swings in their semifinal win over ohio state ucla's lead is now just 21 excuse me 22-21 after leading by three if long beach comes back and wins this particular set call coming into that third we're gonna have to display something like the world poker tour we're going to put up a percentage chance of ucla winning the third and i can tell you it's substantially lower if they let this one get away from just momentum wise so many times you see matches where a first set is won by a team a second is close there's a big comeback and then all of a sudden that third is a blowout ucla looking for their 20th national championship their last was all the way and it is all the way back for a program like ucla over penn state this was in happy valley and the ucla bruins interesting year they were not even in the playoff picture and came all the way back through for hall of fame morale skates to win that championship they won their last 14 matches in a row to take that title an unbelievable and remarkable run now skates john wooden is the wizard of westwood al skates is the sorcerer of success i'm not quite sure what but at ucla for 50 years they'll get to take yellow back to the days when they were using cast off t-tops or tank tops coming from the basketball team because they had no money for uniforms for the volvo squad i have an interesting story about coach skates and money in just a moment critical point here [Applause] instinct into the cross court right on the sideline tied at 22. he says really in trouble here their main offensive weapons are in the back row and john sprawl burns another timeout that was such a good contact by t.j defalco tracking down that soft block right on target timeout call tied at 22 long beach state leading one set to none monday start your week with get up at 7 00 a.m eastern on espn with greeny beetle and jalen they'll tell you the potential for the rockets warriors showdown in the west plus how quick the cavs can clinch over toronto and how that would help the old man lebron james how could have they been taken down the number two seed so far and who won the top sports moment of the weekend get up monday at 7 00 a.m eastern on espn and the espn houston left little doubt after utah won game two james harden chris paul and the rest went into utah and hammered him by 30 or more [Music] long beach stayed on a three-nothing run and it was a service error that gave them a little bit of breathing room and launch them back to this 22 old tie remember got to win by two where does ucla go here assuming that they're in system that's exactly what i was looking at here paul i think if you're in system you go to the middle you might even see ma'a get involved if it's a perfect pass he may dump [Applause] second set ucla has really up their efficiency but they must as you pointed out kevin they must close this out [Applause] comes through essenaur and jimma have really picked it up seven kills now for hessenau yeah again working against the smaller hoos we've seen that matchup benefit ucla much of this match misery's jump serve has been on and off again muscled that one that was a bad toss [Applause] good touch [Applause] barnett's into the cross court this has to be for the bruins if they're going to win the national title jake arnitz must kill the ball the way he did there to finish rally's score points both teams are out of timeouts oh what a pass [Applause] back what a pass by the libro jordan molina one of those junior college transfers that alan knight does such a good job of pulling from the junior league here in california richard on to serve once again he's been pretty aggressive from the line second set point for the bruins and we're tied at one set a piece it was in dangerous slipping away at the beginning part of this second set as well as the last 10 of this set ucla did an outstanding job of fighting back in both cases and now we're tied at one [Applause] long beach state and ucla 48 years later battling for the national championship back with more after this [Music] [Music] ucla and long beach state tied at one set apiece remember this is the third meeting between the bruins and the 49ers long beach state number one in the nation most of the year won both previous meetings back with two-time all-american and two-time olympian kevin barnett on paul sunderland the keys for ucla to turn that around when they were really up against it hey give it to kofi gemma that's where you've been going all year your highest percentage highest percentage in the entire ncaa attacking program who gives their middle nine attempts in the second set nobody's able to do that the reason they're able to do it is not only the passing but also michael ma on the connection with jimmy he's able to give it to him from well off then it doesn't have to be a perfect pass nine attempts for a middle attacker those are opposite numbers those are kevin barnett outside hitter numbers yeah passing for myself because i couldn't pass the ball shanking it off 10 feet you have to give it to me but credit the whole team for getting it to kofi gemma and ma for continuing to stay with that spot i said in the middle of that set that they had to stay with what's worked all year ma did that he didn't start searching for solutions in a pressure situation look at how ucla almost doubling their offensive production and as you mentioned jimma started two for eight in the second set eight for nine including his first seven so ucla the number three seed overall at 26 and seven taking on the top seed the 49ers from long beach state as we're getting ready for the start of set number three ucla's done two things here they've flipped a little bit of pressure on to tj defalco and long beach for the first time really in the matchup between these two teams it was a solid victory even when ucla won sets in the previous two matchups they only won them deuce 25-23 that was a little better win that time not in terms of necessarily overall score coming in 25-23 again but in terms of feeling will start things off for the bruins long beach state has changed their rotation that ball tucked inside a fortuitous kill that time by number five ensign you'll see teams do that they play with the matchups on the outside they'll spin the pie they'll spin the wheel i know al skates is sitting up here charting he can't stop himself he's up there in the end line charting watching the game and watching who starts where i have to finish that story about al and money in just a moment now that this third set is underway [Applause] back to al skates very early on al skates was an outstanding player and had hopes of representing the united states in olympic games so he went in the legendary athletic director jd morgan and said i want to coach the team and and the athletic director said al i don't have much money and al said that's okay i can't get paid because i i have to stick you know these uh these ancient rules i can't get paid because i want to play in the olympics and jd morgan said fine you're my guy you're hired i'll do it for free oh no problem worked out pretty well [Applause] just underway here in the third here's to aniga sky hook fellaini another fairly famous bruin would have enjoyed that one well there's a pretty good video last year of him hitting balls copy gemini just in the gym and they posted on social media and he got a lot of pub for it all the way up in some of the espn morning shows but the big question was why don't you play basketball well the answer is he's really good at volleyball now oh nice kill out of the middle by amato doesn't get a lot of opportunity sits very efficiently 462 on the year first kill just his third attempt and that's been the missing piece for long beach they don't use their middles a ton especially early in the year they didn't go to the middles at all it was all pinned they've worked the middle in as the season went on that's an important piece they'll have to bring that back does that surprise you because they're the best ball control team in the tournament well when your pins are as good as they are you want to put it out to the hot hitter ellen knight told me he said that's the thing where josh is just doing a good job feeling the hot hitter it's been kyle ensign up to the last few swings looking for hands missed it out of bounds now for ucla they're right back into a difficult rotation here [Applause] martin is now the middle attacker oliver martin wearing number four and six foot ten and ucla gets a break dj defalco missed that jump serve quite badly as hessenauer goes back to serve now this is where the ucla got stuck in their side out game was this particular rotation with the opposite and right back let's see what they can do with it before they get to the point where they have to get out of it [Applause] back to back this serves now watch and see if they can immediately sign out when they gave up those points at the end of the second we've got misery hitting out on the left martin in the middle essentially out of the back row [Applause] championship match the 49th edition of the men's ncaa finals tied at one set piece [Applause] that's a really good touch by anderson and finished off by ensign yeah this is not the best delivery that's too far off the net too wide ensign does a good job of bringing in the round house good save by number five ucla got to get out of this rotation they're bleeding points right now [Applause] misery will do the job dylan misery six foot four junior out of holbrook new york list is his hoppies beach volleyball golf serving surfing and going to the beach no wonder he came to ucla perfect fit originally from holbrook new york how's the surf in holbrook there's some pretty good surf on the east coast [Applause] so if you're ucla and you can eliminate a factor get rid of yarn who's getting some kills and an effective offensive attacker for long beach state to start this match and dylan mystery serve has returned another tough serve saved by tuanega legally and thrown to the floor michael maher is an aggressive offensive player that's the first time we've seen him go solo in this match now this save listen you can't touch the opponent's side of the court and the ball has to pass outside the antenna both ways across and then back to your own side to aniga ran it down and gave his team at least a shot at that point good job by the bruins to keep concentration and keith what a serve by misery remember yesterday when we spoke to head coach john he said you know in these kind of matches it might be somebody who's not really a star somebody who really comes up and plays and contributes just a huge match and right now dylan misery on a little bit of a roll well dylan mister wanted to serve back he worked on it he's being rewarded now three aces [Applause] [Music] [Applause] remember that play ucla with a couple of opportunities yeah here's what happens mystery is going back hessenauer handled that free ball in low so mystery did a great job of calling the play still being available at d but that's not where he normally hits that's christian hessenauer's ball on a traditional basis misery was expecting something much faster i think it's mystery that's out of rhythm there he's not a d attacker and coming right back in sing with a service ace his third five aces now for long beach state a couple for ucla [Applause] christian hessenauer has had to be patient in his collegiate career he sat down for the last two seasons while the 6-2 dominated ucla volleyball he was the odd man out he knew coming into his senior season he was going to have a shot at that spot and he has delivered all year long the program john sprawl brad keller john hawks all saying how proud they are and how happy they are for that young man like combination the heater from the falco he has got a whip of an arm his arm is international [Music] just whips up over the top of it constant crisp contact continue to be blown away nine kills now for the falco and a very smart play that's it right there so we talked about it paul you asked what makes him special what did i say arm and intellect there you go back to back plays both skills throwing the ball that time off the bruins block of micah and john spura is going to challenge you can challenge ball off a player either in the backcourt or off the block ball in or out a net violation or not and a service football so we're having our first challenge so far of this championship match you get three per match and unlike internationally where if your challenge is proven correct you keep it now you only get three and that's it okay the challenge here is not did mike omaha touch it it's who touched it last was it thrown out of bounds by tj defalco in any case look you have three challenges first one that's been used this is a de facto timeout yeah from that angle i don't know you're gonna get any difference one of the things that needs to be addressed with the challenge system collegiately is the frame rate of the challenge system internationally if you're used to watching that you see fingers bend back i don't know if we're going to get a determination there once again to overrule the call the video replay has to be 100 conclusive in order to overrule i thought that was a good one i saw it live i thought it was a really good play by default but what do you think kevin yeah i thought it was an excellent play and i thought it did go off mike omaha we will see i just want you to go back and on your 75 inch at home just pause it for a second take a look at how high my kamaha is in the air on this play that's your setter going chest high yeah that's gonna be six three that's gonna be long beach's ball and the point's gonna stay on the board at 10 to eight and remember since that miscommunication between ma'a and misery right long beach has gone on a 4-1 run right but at least john sprout with that challenge he managed to slow that game way down that was longer than even a regular called timeout dion back to serve there's a difference in the matchups who's up there with kofi now it's not help from br news it's held from tj to falco and that's the deciding difference in that play right handed to falco that serve is missed and alan knight telling us yesterday you know defalco gets the headlines around his offense but alan knife is telling us what a really really good blocker he is and john sprawl had talked about that all summer long about what an excellent pin blocker tj defalco was he's a guy who brings a lot more to the table than just doing it missing that ball just out of bounds jordan molina number nine in the black jersey for long beach state has been superb good communication there off the ma'am is long beach state leading 12 to nine if you're just joining us long beach state easily won the opening set the bruins fought their way back to tie this match at a set apiece barnett's into the crossbow jake arnett's senior season i've asked barranza four years ago said he can't believe that the four years have gone by this quickly and he's going to be done after this match but he's given himself maximum volleyball an opportunity to do something that he will remember for the rest of his life win or lose this ucla program [Applause] and sing is doug hatch will track that down smart shot up into the block to restart the point draws the net violation but back to our knits now a senior ccla program look they've won 19 championships but the last in 2006 this is a program that's done a lot of changing internally and externally under john's ferrara to get back to the elite level yeah one of the first elite players recruited by john sprawl is jake garnett there's going to be a challenge on that net violation so we didn't have a challenge of any sort in the first or second set and now we've had a couple in pretty close proximity yeah this is a actually a first opportunity for alan knight in terms of his collegiate coaching career internationally in the summer he's been coaching junior teams he would have had perhaps some instant replay but that didn't get instituted until just recently in the john spura era so that is being reviewed ucla in the finals for the 24th time they have won the title 19 times yeah that's that's against long beach there's a net violation whereas long beach state is appearing in the national championship match for the sixth time in the first since 2004. they lost to ucla in 70. they also lost in 73 they won their only title in 1991 also back to the championship in 99 and 04. 1991 that's the old weaver days they didn't have an npsf or a big west conference which was you this year and how nice for the big west yeah good point first year for the conference to sponsor men's volleyball they had the best team all year and their team is here in the championship and two southern california teams playing for the national championship something that hasn't happened in five years loyola of chicago won back to back in 14-15 ohio state 1-15 excuse me 16 and 17. this delay has gone for quite yeah no net violation wow that's ucla's ball yeah net violation so now both ucla and long beach state have two challenges remaining as our niche goes back to the line [Applause] mitt's having a good match four kills eight swings no errors [Applause] to aniga repeating into the middle to a motto going right back at the same spot just trying to hit it harder off jt hatch catches more hatches right arm motto was a second team all-american whereas tuesday and defalco were all in the abca which is the american volleyball coaches association first team all-americans [Applause] made the first team for ucla that ball missed out of bounds [Applause] [Music] [Applause] service errors are very close 27 total 13 for ucla 14 for long beach state that ball is in that was really close paul from my perspective that might be a hawkeye situation where the ball compresses and touches the back side come on give me the bar nigh yeah barn i had it out that's close but the barn is notoriously terrible the long beach state bench confirmed it though that it caught a piece of the line [Applause] good swing by hessenhauer good patience by hassan hour they've been working on going faster to him on the right-hand side and sometimes players then get in that rhythm of going too quick he waited attacked caught the ball high hessenauer now with 10 kills jimmo with 11. and ucla starting to get up to their season numbers in terms of efficiency after a very slow start the bruins on top in the third 14-13 [Applause] third set here at poly pavilion in los angeles on the beautiful ucla campus the bruins leading 14-13 over long beach state tied at a set a piece a lot of olympic and national team connections in this match and there is number 12 on the right side of your screen tj defalco last year's team that competed in the world league and there's his head coach well his head coach next week john spura currently the head coach for his opponent ucla [Applause] coming out of the timeout unique situation to have a college coach that is also the national team head coach no precedent for that before john's bra [Applause] oh that's going to be a neck violation tight set and a dangerous play too you have a player coming under the net essentially colliding that time with ensing as they'll pass with four now will long beach stay against the serve of trophy gemma this is row one difficult for a lot of teams opposite on the left almost a foot fault might have distracted jimmy missed it out of bounds just to finish the thought on the two head coaches john spurrage you mentioned doing double duty the u.s olympic team head coach and the bruins head coach when alan knight coached the 2012 team that finished fifth i thought allen did a wonderful job play stanley doesn't get hurt maybe they finish even better but that's another story but allen knight took a leave of absence from long beach state side out numbers are really dropping off now for the country's best offensive team long beach state 85 in the first set which is tremendous 70 which is very good here in the third down to 57. if you get above 70 generally you win now of course that probably entails you holding your opponent to a lower number but generally 70 will win it plus 70 neither team signing out well in this one ucla just above 61. the r goose registers the kill is fourth so far in the match ethan siegfried on the server [Applause] stabbed by defalco killed by the falco unbelievable that was a beach play watch the left hand here oh you can't see it left hand off hand was the dig in a beach fashion open hand scooped it out and then right into transition with his buddy joshua defalco now 11 kills on 15 swings eastern siegfried not siegfried and roy dialing up a little magic long beach state back on top 17-16 back and forth momentum is hard to get a hold of and hard to keep in this championship match what a rise it's been for long beach this year t.j defalco kyle n singh and josh tuaniga the juniors continue to excel and lead the number one team in the nation they're back on top with the momentum here in the third [Music] [Applause] 3-0 run for the number one seeded long beach state 49ers over ucla now taking advantage 17-16 here in the third back with two-time olympian kevin barnett on paul sunderland thanks for joining us long beach state again if you're just joining us uh won the opening set 25-19 ucla clawed back winning the second 25-23 [Applause] that's trouble all right so another even the one earlier from hessenauer and that one from long beach state the falco's doing an outstanding job of playing center field he's playing that middle back spot we've seen him pick it up off the block through the block clean making all the plays defalco's got seven digs and a lot of them have been outstanding joust coming lift could have been called there and on the top down it helps to be six foot ten one eight points digs from both sides and defalco streaking across just throwing an arm at it i'm glad they didn't call it let him play now ucla back-to-back points has recaptured the advantage and dylan mystery serve has been perfection in this match it's really back he's hitting it hard he's in it with some slice to it always sir and there it is slicing it off with some heat you go at the opposite into a short part of the court you can't do it much better than that dylan misery out of holbrook new york now with three aces leading the way for ucla three-nothing run for long beach answered by misery in ucla to take the 1917 advantage a lot of people think serving's all about power while power is a critical component you have to hit the right spot and hit the right person with the right ball all of those things coming together right there for dill and misery effective execution from the service line you mentioned kevin a very busy week of college volleyball out in gulf shores alabama florida state in this double elimination format has secured a spot in tomorrow's final coming up on sunday at 2 eastern time on espn ucla will play along hawaii in the elimination match the winner of that to advance [Music] so a big beach volleyball tournament avp and fivb joining forces down in huntington beach this weekend as well john sprawl mentioned the culture of this program this year to us yesterday when we chatted with him he said it's never been better we made huge strides from last year i heart back to when he took over and i talked to him then his quote then was guys need to be accountable to the mission they say they want to be a part of habits must change and what these this team found out back then what that group found out was if you won't change john will help you move right on he's got an absolutely fantastic roof this season see what dylan misery can do can he put a little misery on long beach state coming out of the timeout yeah maybe a little more that was a wonderful pass [Applause] arnis down the line and out of bounds and it's a 4-0 there's the guy jake garnitz has to be both tonight and moving forward in his career the terminal left he already touches up around 12 feet watch how high he's in the air here that's over the top and ripping and john sprout loves it five kills now for number fifteen acer yesterday at practice somebody else somebody unexpected might be a star could it be dylan misery five-nothing run for the bruins [Applause] the falco is stuck straight down excellent timing for the brewing block and you wonder where they were earlier on one of these plays when it was down the middle well here both guys in all three guys up together what a run by misery boy did he do his job absolutely not only the number of aces they heat how about all of a minute in a row right after that last one unbelievable i like the adjustments from long beach passing wise though they pulled in sing out after he got aced ensign is a real weapon he's got three aces handled nicely by hatch back row combination but misery violated the three meter line yeah good choice this is nice offense from so much has gone to the middle long beach has been all over it not a ton of bits so far from ucla they try to go to it it was definitely the right call john talking to the second referee thinking about challenging of course but you can't challenge that particular call instead coach sperral will use one of his timeouts both teams now are out of time outs ucla leading 22-19 tied at a set apiece for this ncaa championship well we've got a moment let's take a look at the capital one cup standings update as teams compete for a combined 400 000 scholarship donation from capital one stanford no surprise 116 national championships all told ucla one behind at 115 followed by the crimson tide north dakota state georgia indiana there you see the entire list stanford leading on both the men's and women's side nebraska congratulations once again to john cook and all the cornhuskers for winning the 2017 women's ncaa championship yeah was incredible in that match that was in kansas city this past december and now they've only gotten better adding lexi sun who formerly started texas [Music] women's season coming up at the end of the summer should prove to be another entertaining run lots of coverage on espn family networks [Music] what about long beach state right here again 27-1 on the year they lost a match late in hawaii and alan knight thought that that situation that crowd 9 000 people at the sheriff's center got him ready for the tournament they've been in some tough situations before late in the season they had uc irvine at home had to win 3-2 and it was close against the anteaters they've been pushed they've responded we saw him make a run at the end of the last set it was 22-19 remember then it was 22 all they can do it again nsync i would go for it right now kyle ensign you've been in rhythm hit it you've been getting aces you could spark your team back into the momentum in this set good pass again [Applause] [Music] over the top of the block and just out of bounds that was very close to the end line ucla can side out they get kofi jimmy back in the front court boy that was really close ucla has one rotation ahead of where they were last time they got stuck in the last set thought that ball was out i thought that was in the blue [Applause] [Applause] big break for ucla sam jones five foot eight red shirt freshman out of manhattan beach on the search [Applause] oh one on one it helps stick in jimma back in the front pole and jimmy followed smart play by him look he's right in front see him step over that ball got pushed into the gap long beach likes to set into the gap get in front of him late set points now four of them for jones and ucla and just needed one ball was set a little bit too low and jimma and our nets made long beach skate pay after dropping the opening set kofi gemma and the ucla bruins have come back to take the two sets to one lead they won the second 25-23 and just won the third [Music] 20. doing it the net with a couple of big stuff blocks [Music] welcome back to southern california westwood more specifically the 49th ncaa men's volleyball championship here on the beautiful campus of ucla back with two-time olympian and two-time all-american out of pepperdine kevin barnett i'm paul sunderland we expected a real battle after the semifinals and the level of play we saw there we knew this was going to be good but ucla really got it going from the service line with dylan misery absolutely and they brought the crowd back and that happened back in the second set when there was kind of a make or break opportunity for ucla they ran off a couple of points you could feel the energy in the building pick up they've ridden some of that but they've also ridden dillon mystery who was a huge factor when they had a good mid-season run he was good from the line this is a guy who's a five-tool player he'll pass the ball for you he'll play excellent defense he'll get kills when you need him he had a couple in that set and then he will rip it from the line the ripping in from the line has been missing well it's back just in time and that's exactly what he was focused on yesterday between the semis and the finals love to see it for young players when their work and their focus pays off look at this after a slow start ucla offensively now is out hitting the most potent offense in the country from long beach state service aces very very even the air the service errors could not be more evil side out percentage for long beach state they had 478 inside out in the first then 3 33 in the second that last set 0 9 1. that's got to be one of the lowest numbers all season long really good pressure from the service line by the bruins and keep going to that well all right kevin your long beach state a lot of expectations that this was your year and with good reason they've had a spectacular season they have the national coach of the year not only this year but last year are they starting to feel some pressure right now i think the pressure's on them squarely definitely in this set ucla has taken the crowd taking the momentum they've already been beaten twice but i'll tell you what paul that's the prescription right there for what ails you if you are long beach state you feed number 11 because not only has it been the numbers that tj falco's put up this year but in watching a few matches it's been when this young man has made plays he has made them when his team has needed them and sometimes it's a crazy play you wouldn't expect him to make like a one-on-one block against the biggest defender or biggest hitter on the other side go to 11 as much as possible in this set to stay alive gj devout the last year's national player of the year a two-time all-american 12 of 20 so far in the match has long beat state dropped off a little bit in terms of their serving because ucla with ma'am and jim are just pounding the middle i think they've tightened up a little bit because they're playing from behind it's easy to serve hard when you're playing from the head smart swing up into the block offensive rebound well it's like a pitcher who's ahead in the count it's easy to throw something with some risk if you're up if you're behind and you're not feeling the rhythm which is what's happening at lbsu here it's more difficult to pound the ball and so what do you get in return for not counting from the service line a face full of 16. missed out of bounds dylan misery is having a fantastic all-around match and that little play up into the block get an offensive rebound restart the point very very sophisticated play well the story of the offense in the third where ucla did not hit great they hit 208 inside out their percentage wasn't great but it was contributions from all around the dial it wasn't one guy that carried him the way kofi did in the second good pass by hatch that's very close to being called a throw down that could have been thrown a second contact there alan knight's not happy i thought it was he's got something to complain about esr off the block and down and ellen knight is still back a couple of plays in his thought process as he talks to our down official the r2 bill wolf you know look i thought it was really questionable but it's been consistently non-called ucla had a couple uh defalco had one earlier they're letting them play yeah larry page isn't even out here and they're letting him play [Applause] a smart swing by the edge of the block yeah a little bit of a comeback he was so good early in this match and beyond his was neutralized he's down to 200 before that kill now his sixth the long beat long beach 49ers could use some good offense from their smaller outside hitter he was really good in the semi-finals and and somewhat in an unexpected area had a couple of big blocks here's ensign yeah this guy's got to heat it up from the line [Applause] oh that ball ripped over the top now i asked you yesterday paul without any lead who is dylan misery in an international context and you nailed it phillip alonso of course from italy who else guy who was so critical in italy's run in the olympic games in 2016 built like a rugby player strong and playing every aspect of the game that's dylan this one [Applause] [Music] it's his doug on the back row combination i go to mystery [Applause] into the middle martin with the kill and we when we bring up lonza that is an absolute compliment oh yeah go in the way of dylan misery particularly the way he's played so far in this championship [Applause] essentially misses that one into the top of the tape a break for long beach state so falco's the kind of guy you can sit anywhere on the court i would just start setting him every transition no matter where he is get it to 11. [Applause] [Music] misery again down the line you know jt hatch the libro the six one senior out of mesa arizona for ucla has been really good and he is so athletic he played as an outside hitter in one of the two matches previously against long beach state for most of the season and he's an outstanding outside hitter he's hitting over 300. a lot of teams would kill that with a guy like that and here's mystery back again with more aces how many aces are there to death four he's cheating he's got five somebody check his sleeves and look at his body language this is an athlete who's completely in his own 8-4 lead for the bruins well dylan misery came on last year with spot duty as a starter he's been in 100 this year kill off the right side by ensign one on one now leading the way with 14 kills on 33 swings but his efficiency has really fallen off remember he started the match seven for seven served out of bounds paul you mentioned earlier the fact that long beach state replaced all but kind of a big three on their side for the bruins also this year it was eight new freshmen in the gym michael maher to the setting position by himself without that 6-2 this was a changed team it's taken them all year to kind of get to where they could be to maximize who they can be and they have done it in the latter part of this set not a part of this match [Applause] last year was almost a lost season for ucla so many injuries including general did not finish the year shoulders knees ankles all kinds of stuff thumbs long beach state has been incredibly healthy this season [Applause] again off the defensive molina and another kill for kokijima his 15th kill and that's just over the top here's the contrast for you dana gemma has 23 attempts you look over the other side and it's 11 for the two middles five and six make it 24 attempts now and even on the other middle blocker position martin has six you have 30 attempts in the middle to just 11. [Applause] but falco's trying to do it all now a great set there dug by hatch [Applause] down the line and good time out long beach state kevin i think you have to go for it down five now unorthodox but effective all season long time out called by long beach state the bruins taking advantage of playing at home and getting some production from right around the dial leading 11-6 here in the fourth [Music] the ucla bruins with a big early lead here in the fourth set they're going to close out this championship on top 11-6 and kevin almost flawless offensively are the bruins nine of 12 total attacking seven for seven inside out [Applause] the falco restoring some sense of order give it to 11. [Music] every time wherever he is that was fast overhead as well 13 kills now on 21 swings just a junior a lot of speculation that he was going to turn pro after last year but he's committed to the program and he's all in right through his entire eligibility and career left side not where opposites spend any time just one out of six rotations and a difficult set coming from over the shoulder if you're long beach state do you commit on jim on the good pass you have to you're not going to stop him if it's set perfectly but you have to hope you get a hold of him as you get older [Applause] with the first contact [Applause] net violation a huge break for long beach nice hustle defensively by the 49ers and what's long beach doing right now they're kind of grinding it out with some defense they're making plays keeping the ball alive forcing a mistake like this look how many guys are there even on that play that ball goes off into the ground but they are right there on the 49ers and defalco is their best server by far and he's at the line 52 aces on the year the constant pressure [Applause] jimma off the hand of ensign and out of bounds and that's the connection that has allowed gemma to get over 400 sets this year even if you're a reasonable passing team it's hard to set the middle that much look how far up the nether is he is halfway to the 10-foot line jumping up vertically next to mike ama he's the highest scoring middle blocker in the country at over three points per set good touch [Applause] letting them play insane turning the ball down the line i continue to be blown away by long beach's ability to extend rallies they pick up a yellow card [Applause] they were screaming about a lift on ucla side but it's been consistent they're letting them go [Applause] so that yellow card we're hearing is picked up by tj defalco and he's been getting a little fiery you saw that all the way back in the beginning with an early net violation call there are times when you can get tj to falco a little unbalanced to get him yelling at everybody around him that has happened lewis richard coming off the bench now 6-3 junior out of los angeles we saw him in practice he's got an r [Applause] good hustle by long beach state bruce just couldn't keep it in play and the bruins now leading 13-10 and a right reminder up two sets to one ucla has won 19 ncaa championships the last in 2006. long beach state has won just one that was in 1991. oh good set off the block and out of bounds once again from israel i had my mvp vote and usually were to win this set in kofi jimmy's hands it might be in dillon mystery's hands right now five aces misery seven kills on 14 swings also has a handful of digs number 12 has been absolutely superb when the bruins needed him the most to try to pull off the upset there's still a lot of weight a lot of work to do welcome back to poly pavilion once again ucla hitting 476 so far here in the fourth and uh kofi gemma has been very hard to stop yeah except for that first set it has been the kobe james show 17 kills on 27. how about that when was the last time your middle had as many attempts as your opposite 27 and 28 right now it happened during the regular season as well saw that with ucla during the regular matchups inside the npsf there were times when he led in kills you don't have a middle routinely lead in kills or nearly leading kills and attempts and then you add in that kind of service pressure pretty good set to the outside hessenauer off the block to aniga's there oh my i was ready for that he read that play two perfect sets by the big guy in a row what a swing on the wrist away by defalco and it starts before the swing t.j defalco we talked about the read from ma on the previous contact he camped in that corner and played that ball with absolute calm and then sent into his attack pattern what a job next level stuff phase to phase of the game by number 11. 14 kills 10 digs for defalco and needed to heat it up for his squad here he is in his next shot trying to match dylan misery for ucla ending now with four aces of his own up to 35 for the season time-out called by ucla the bruins leading two sets to one and on top 14-12 have called a time-out espn's coverage of the ncaa championships continues tomorrow with the ncaa beach volleyball championship at 2 p.m eastern time on espn for more information go to ncaa.com the official online loan for all 90 ncaa championships let's take a look at the bracket for beach volleyball once again florida state has moved on into the championship match it's double elimination format so hawaii lost to florida state in their semifinal they will play ucla ucla defeated the defending champions from usc so they will play in the elimination match tomorrow morning you can see that's at 11 30 eastern time the winner will move on to play florida state ucla the pac-12 champion the ccsa champion is florida state in fact ucla defeated usc in that pac-12 title match as well they've been the number one team since about midway through that season opportunity for the bruins to pick up back to back national titles tie and pass stanford in this weekend ucla has 115 ncaa total championships the stanford cardinal with 116. what a journey it has been for the offensive part of this game first set it ended 478 for long beach to 250 for ucla it's now 315 which is a good number for long beach but ucla is at 351. [Applause] what a nice connection got a break there excuse me kevin when that jump serve hit the top of the tape made that ball a little easier to pass and a one-on-one there with the pace of misery he's taking advantage of that open scene [Applause] oh he pulled that one on he called that one on sound he's right in front of him our up referee brian hamelgarn because we've seen a lot dirtier balls come out but it's a chunk when he hit it here [Applause] all i'll say is there have been worse and he let him go indeed wow that was that just you got to move on if you're ucla it has to do you have the lead one of the things that john spurra talked to us about for the culture of his team got to put that behind you and move on to the next point let alone more importantly just the next contact i said it'd be fun to watch the beginning of this match that's because of those kind of plays ma'am from 15 feet off the net beastie he saw that one coming like a giant donut flying through the sky workers at the service line oh perfect pass do you go middle yes you do off the block and out of bounds what a touch by hessenaut think back to christian hessenauer having one of these touches earlier in this match and sending it over the net out of bounds here he lays it up on the money don't say i don't have ball control [Applause] also just out of bounds mentioned that ucla and paulie pavilion home and site of the men's ncaa championship for the 15th time where is it next year just down the road 35 miles away at long beach state and they could very well be there as the home side next year in the championship match [Applause] one of the special things about him is his body control he can be running full speed in one direction and he will stop on a dime and you see him rise up perfectly composed to deliver a set ethan siegfried freshman serving specialist out of honolulu on desert and special indeed [Applause] the falco off the block and out of that mcdonald's with a challenge again the exact same thing here well i my lip reading is not very good as a matter of fact it's getting worse the older i get but i think coach bharara said it went off him meaning default go last yeah it's the same argument he made before and i just don't know that you're gonna get it from the replay oh maybe on that one that one's closer than the other one was remember you get three challenges total then challenge ball in or out ball off a defender either blocking or in the back court foot fault so this is very subtle but watch it touch hold and then throw huh interesting maybe maybe i don't know if they'd overturn it thing is it's been called long beach's way you have to overturn it this strikes me as something that john spura the ucla head coach has seen on film or video if you will that's a good question or or let's remember that he coached tj defalco all last summer now tell talk us through that play as an outside hitter kevin which you were throughout your career what are you trying to do well i can first of all say i've never successfully made that play in my career but you take it you throw it into the block with your hand you push into the block then you wipe so what john's making the argument is that he pushed in wiped and he finished the wipe after the block was contacting the ball it's close yeah but that's what you want to do you want to grab it and push it you don't want to wipe it immediately push it in wipe it out and i thought tj did a nice job with that both times i agree that one was closer but i just don't see how they would reverse it they have not long beach ball remember the video replay has to be 100 conclusive i thought it was a good call an interesting challenge and the call will stand and that makes it 17-16 ucla has one challenge remaining long beach state has two here is siegfried again he's done a good job serving this time down the middle [Applause] leaving no doubt something to do about the tenth row somebody should take that and run up the stairs here out the building it's yours they got plenty of them we were at practice yesterday they got plenty sam jones now on to serve for ucla [Applause] this should be a good point scoring rotation even with the front row setter and then back to the front row paul nice play to aniga going into the middle to nicomato number 25 doesn't get many opportunities but he makes the most of it three kills now on seven swings no errors 18 17. he likes the 1-6 space between hatch and mystery [Applause] rejection 5-1 run for long beach state and we're tied at 18. and a motto of back-to-back points as well we talked about the middle factor for ucla right now it's a motto making plays for long beach long beach defalco for the lead how many blockers were there in front of kofi there were three all three 49ers 6-1 run for t.j defalco and long beach state defalco has got five kills here in the fourth set long beach state on top by one you have to feed the guy when you have the guy and i don't mean just his kill numbers but he is the guy when the pressure is on cj defalco time and again this season has performed when his team has needed him you have to feed him that right there's the perfect recipe you get a hold of kofi who's been tearing you up you do it by having all three guys help get in front of them get a touch and then you hand it to the guy who's supposed to get the points gosh to aniga wearing number 10 the outstanding setter for long beach state he and tj defalco played together in high school their last couple of years to aniga from long beach a two-time all-american and this year's national player of the year as his old friend and high school and now college teammate defalco was last year must win situation for long beach state the number one team in the nation all season long look at defalco's numbers 17 of 25 hitting 520 efficiency and if you're wondering what efficiency and volleyball stats are it's kills minus errors number 11 defalco only has four divided by total attempts i'd like to see his attempt numbers quite a bit higher so with the long beach fans 6-1 run long beach state is riding [Applause] close to a throat oh you're giving me that funny look close you're giving me the barney out of the corner of your eye they've let this go over the last few years so all you old school guys who were complaining including the whole 91 team for long beach over here in the corner who hates it that is more acceptable now you see taylor sander doing a lot internationally okay you see guys throw the ball with a little more pace you can't rear it back you can't palm it and throw it but you can push it in a way that i think years ago you could not that would get called as a lift as they check out tj defalco if you got a scratch across the chiefs there just under the right eye he has been battling what a match he's had the 17 kills is one thing 11 digs and a couple of aces somebody get vinny pacheco out here easy jumpsuit down the line oh our knits went down right off the block and out of bounds the falco's coming over that's a dangerous play that's good sportsmanship that's an excellent move by by tj defender you put the hand under i like that a lot because you never want to see another player hurt john sparrah is challenging and this will be his last one [Applause] i'm not sure what he's defalco was not under yeah it's kind of half and half there almost right but in order for it to be a violation as you know your entire foot has to be over the line the line is kind of a neutral zone so i'm not sure what john is challenging here whether he thought defalco netted i've seen it called throughout the years as a preponderance of your foot if you stick it way under there you may not have the whole size 15 under there a preponderance yeah it's like a civil lawsuit paul preponderance of the evidence well that's a dangerous plot no doubt and i like tj me too i'm the guy look i want to hit you in the face and i'm not going to apologize i'm going to hitch in the face as many times as i can during the match and we can talk later but under the net that situation is different nobody wants that to happen to them [Applause] being being told that john spura is challenging a centerline violation but that under the current ncaa challenge system in men's and women's volleyball is not something that can be challenged he's not defalco's not under anywhere [Music] internationally there's dedicated cameras on every line but you can't challenge that particular area of the game i have to talk to jay carnival after this match and see if that was the bloody devots drama award that he should be winning from that one or if he honestly lost his footing i'm wondering now does does coach sparrow get his challenge back defalco's not under no i think that's not an acting award that's a little inversion there you don't you do not in fact will do that if you feel footing like that you get your feet under you will collapse back to take the weight off that leg his challenge was never accepted we're being told officially from the scorers table so johns perron ucla still have one challenge remaining you asked them yesterday what's different when you coach here versus when you're pushing that yeah there's one there's one there are lots of others a lot more teaching obviously at the college level and he said look when i'm coaching the national team practice is over i watch some film i go home but here i got a fundraise i got to recruit i got to get on the phone [Applause] good play by ucla what a clutch pass by the bruins after an excellent serve by the falco that's not even a good pass for most teams that's not a middle pass for most teams watch where jim is he backs up to 14 feet and hits it from seven he took off straddling the three-meter line 90 of teams don't make that play grant moleski who was the serving star for ucla on thursday night with a couple of aces the bruins win over byu can he do something special here tied at 20 must win situation for long oh wow must win situation for long beach state they now lead it on the miss 21-20 [Applause] bruce is going to be out on the left i'd look this time for hessenauer overhead if you can't get it to kofi in the middle [Applause] misery brilliant swing off the top of the block any team that gets this far into a national championship conversation has a lot of ways to hurt you ucla is showing that misery now with nine kills gym uh back-to-back service errors for ucla now bad timing for the server use delay to go away bad timing for jimmy to go to the sideline he's a long way from getting back to the front court for the bruins right these next three rotations have been rough on the bruins this is a good spot for long beach their best server at the line out of bounds just over the end line tied at 22. yeah that's a big win for the bruins there four aces best server in this match for long beach state kyle ensign [Music] and we're going to have a challenge from long beach head coach alan knight whether that ball was in or out remember just to review three challenges per team for the entire match you can challenge ball in or out ball off a player either in the back court or the net net violation that ball is out of bounds at least by my eye ball in or out and the last that can be challenged is a foot fault on the service line yeah in real time i had that one out yeah from these two angles where's allen knife he's using this as a timeout you see right there the call's already been made allen knife is still in the huddle he's right up against an allen knight boston he's the most active coach as you'll see he's almost in the left front if they set him i think he's ready he uses a short approach tied at 22. back-to-back service errors this one has to be in it should be in it must be in this is way too many free points in this situation ucla donating to long beach state way too many and and what were those three service errors when did they happen paul t.j defalco was in the back row you can't get to him as easily now he's back in the front row advantage long beach [Applause] misery again he is hitting the ball high into that block he can hear the touches and that time he brought it back a little more line after going so much hard scene look who's going back to serve now after this kill 12 with the kill 12 with five aces back at the line does he take something off since they've missed no not dylan anybody else yes that's all right that's all right what you don't want is to lead into him that way you want him going for it now a set point for long beach state tough rotation for ucla here's the freshman out of denmark anderson [Applause] and our nips is able to put the ball away big moment for jake arnitz right there set on the line national championship your senior season and you get a power kill where you get enough of it that it carrum's way out of play what a gutsy decision and jimmo was almost right there to slow it down from tuanega yeah good reading reacts just can't get there set point number two acers player of the year honors if you had any doubt there shouldn't have been a doubt in your mind but it was erased in that moment right there to stay alive for the season to push it to five josh to aniga and long beach state the best team all year we will play one more set for a national title inside paulie [Music] [Music] setting sun here near the iconic hollywood sign about 15 minutes shouldn't measure in minutes that's dangerous in los angeles ucla in long beach not measuring this one in minutes either we are going five for the national championship back with kevin barnett on paul sunderland ucla has been a high risk serving team all season long it came back to bite him there a little bit but long beach hung in and t.j defalco is just tremendous again listen be at your best when your best is required is a john wooden quote we're on john wooden court however it applies to long beach state in that fourth set t.j defalco i said you need to defeat him josh tuanega knew what to do six kills on seven attempts he has 17 in this match hitting 500 and then you add in plays like that where he's doing it with the defense he's creating even if he's not the beneficiary on every single one he's playing center field he's popping the ball up giving his team an opportunity to extend the rally and earn the point defalco a double double 17 kills 11 digs a couple of aces now the onus kevin back on ucla and johns barra and you mentioned it right before first serve have we really seen truly the maximum the very best from ucla they're going to need it now in order to close out this championship i think the block for ucla has to come back they have eight in this match so there's only one block in that first set by either side it was won by long beach it's eight to four the total advantage ucla's got to slow down the hitters that's five straight service errors for ucla the scoring system in the fifth set to 15 win by two the teams will change sides at eight this 15 point tiebreaker for a national championship [Applause] oh not a perfect three ball pass a break for ucla misery smartly off the block and out of bounds [Applause] remember that play long beach state was way ahead in the point and they couldn't close the deal i know it's early but the margin for error is so small as you know kevin at least one bad contact they are unable to clean up [Music] eastern i guess if you're gonna end a series of six missed serves in a row dylan misery is gonna dial up his six days well he did something smart here he took a little bit off he cut that ball it ends up in a perfect spot but he did not hit that maximum volume and that was a bad toss he left it in front of him he couldn't muscle it down and if misery couldn't muscle it down that means nobody could not is this ucla walking a real tight rope here with this many service errors so many free points listen mystery's been your guy he has a green light right now everyone else got to take it off just a little bit make long beach play get your block involved what a pass [Applause] yeah no help that time from house i don't know where he went he needs to be in there that's what's been working for long beach what's yarn who's here we get a look at him he's out at the pin he's not at all involved there kofi jimmy now with 20 kills out of bounds no touch maybe a challenge alan knight the head coach for long beach state is thinking about it alan knight coached the united states olympic team in 2012 his counterpart in this match that falls out john led the united states to a bronze medal in rio bad toss from the moment that thing went up if you watch servers closely you can tell from the moment that ball leaves their hand whether they really have a realistic shot at hitting it that is 25 service errors for ucla and if you're wondering this isn't like tennis if you if you don't like your toss you can just catch it and go again it used to be i know it used to be 90s thank goodness middle 90s thank goodness they got rid of that you toss it you got to hit it yuval kotz who lost to ucla in this building during his senior season at uh used to throw it straight up and stand there took it as a break [Applause] nicely off the edge of the block and out of bounds for the match now long beach state hitting 327. ucla out hitting them quite substantially at 379. remember coming in it was just reversed long beach state had the best offense in the country ucla right behind palm beach state came back from 22-19 in that first set [Applause] hanging bang falco with another kill and nothing's changed from the beginning of the fourth but right now you give the ball to number 11. you find him wherever he is hensing hoping to add to his four ace total [Music] really a classy swing by our knicks fall a little bit inside you got to get your feet to it and you have to drive it in order to get that sometimes jake doesn't drive the ball with enough heat there he did nine kills for the senior number 15 will head to the sideline and he's done a really nice job of hitting the ball with pace throughout this match moleski will come back on his last attempt was not pretty ucla leading 6-4 remember puts that tiebreaker to 15. that ball inside that time of misery give the kill to instinct one on one again interesting read by mystery he was one on one saw the set and stopped basically in his position of help to the middle blocker he did not move to the outside at all and he nearly got it the two amiga runs such a good offense so many one-on-one attempts it was six six feet of line there and didn't take it a service error for long beach we haven't said that much lately that is the 18th service error for long beach state they have eight aces that's a pretty good ratio ucla has seven aces and 342 service errors i'm kidding only 25. jones on again to serve bruins leading by two remember the teams will change sides when one reaches eight [Applause] blowing there for a second i saw him indicated he means his face turned a little ball wouldn't bounce around we have a stopped ball i hate when that happens siegfried will come on to serve been pretty effective good location he's been a lot of wrist away right now that would be the mystery i expect him to go down the middle and hit our knits he was hitting our niche with that sharp wrist away rejected by defalco [Applause] that was up in the skylight that was a little bit too high teams will change sides after this point that's his move wrist away ethan siegfried out of honolulu hawaii dialing up a critical ace for long beach to come back keying a three-nothing run teams will change sides we'll step aside long beach leading ucla [Music] 8-7 back at poly pavilion long beach state and ucla going right down to the wire battling for this 49th all-time ncaa men's championship ucla trying to make it number 20. long beach state trying to make it number two back with kevin barnett on paul sunderland and siegfried after the ace looking to continue a three-nothing run for the long beach state 49ers this is a tough sir you don't have this in your gym lots of times unless you have a lefty not a lot of guys hit this hard shark wrist away from the right side with the right arm [Applause] what a play by ensign sometimes when you have a player in there who hasn't been in a lot that innate communication so necessary in volleyball fails just a touch who has it looked like ensign could have taken an overhand he's not sure normally there's another player behind him that'll take it tough spot [Applause] off the block and out of bounds i was about to say michael maher is really an explosive server but long beach has corralled him most of the match that was his best attempt of the night time out called by long beach state for the championship when we come back to ucla and paulie pavilion will it be the bruins or the 49ers [Music] [Applause] ucla in the fifth set tie breaker on top of long beach state 9-8 the falco hitting out on the left side amato in the middle and sing out of the back row michael ma'am [Applause] couple times we've seen him almost off one foot out of there he did a nice job stretching to that one as it was a little tight for the net credit to kyle insane for getting the kill [Applause] i like that set that is an excellent set in that situation let your player close to it it's just the right distance off the floor off the net an outstanding move by amato hessenauer gets stuck out on the left side when he's the opposite he usually hits right side five out of six times in the rotation but they had him out on the left blocking and it might have hurt ucla in that particular situation really good blocking by the long beach state 49ers now on top 10-9 what a match 49ers have got to hold him a few times out there yeah this is good for the game the atmosphere inside paulie a couple of teams that can travel a short distance all the alumni coming out to support and better yet we've had outstanding volleyball for four sets now two-thirds of a fifth or maybe more maybe we're going overtime in the fifth long beach state's only title was in 1991 and the finals have not been particularly kind to long beach state one and four all time for the championship five ties five lead changes so far in this fifth set tiebreaker and right before i left my house for the match [Applause] i got on social media kevin can you believe that tweeted out and got on facebook and it's about the match and i said you got to watch this could be one of the best in a long long time welcome to 2009 paul thank you thank you thank you [Applause] middle yes good soft gloss essen hour again out on the left oh he couldn't play it amato has shown up big in a couple of moments in this match this is another one remember he got back-to-back points in the last set now all of a sudden again he's getting set in the middle he's getting soft blocks in the middle he's getting a stuff there and a point excellent job by nick amato time-out called by ucla and i gotta ask the question why are they leaving hessenauer out on the left side misery is over on the right well he's been outstanding on the left yeah they're stuck in row one the problem is they can't switch in time after the first ball goes over they're not able to move those guys you'd love to be able after the first ball happens just say we're going to switch no matter what happens we're going to move that spot and we're going to give up a little bit of preparation on the block to make sure that should we get another transition opportunity those two guys are better in their comfort zone christian hessenauer has had a good offensive match but he's been a different he's been outstanding on the right and struggled on the left and where his misery has been superb throughout number 12 for ucla they got to make that switch yeah it's totally normal that the opposite struggles on the left that is an absolute thing that happens all the way up to olympic teams you and i in rio two years ago watched opposites struggle on the left it's just how it is they're there one rotation out of six there's been five on the right coming out of the back row in the front row it is not easy row one for any team at any level it is atypical to be successful in row one josh to aniga he and tj defalco have played together since they were in middle school when undefeated in high school and now searching for a championship together four points away and a block on the outside that went off misery and now a big lead for long beach stage who made the play defalco made the play but now it's been reversed wait a minute wait a minute here's the official pointed the wrong way no it did go off mystery but the argument will be that it hit the antenna first ah and then hit mystery on the shoulder there's no question to hit mystery good call kevin that was a bang yeah you're right absolutely right good call off of defalco into the antenna bang bang off of misery that's a good call good work by the official and it happened right in front of our up official our r1 oh wait they changed it now they've gone back the other way wow and ucla ucla's got it challenged wow wow don't you have to challenge that if you're ucla remember they rescinded the one challenge so ucla's got one left the only possibility is that the upper pitcher did not see a fetch missile [Applause] no challenge so the rule not off the antenna but off the top of the net a good service run here and i jinxed him until he missed out out of bounds huge break for ucla and good job by sam coburn who just came into this match to lay off of that one he was in there on the left of rotation that ucla has used as you mentioned essentially struggling on the left they bring cobra in for one rotation now he's back out now will go to the right [Applause] insane missed it out one on one and he missed it guess who's in rotation one now paul uh long beach timeout called by the 49ers that might have been a match ball right there if long beach state is able to side out right there that might have been too much for ucla to overcome but now with the error they're back within one and they keep misery on the service line as a hitter that is a terrible feeling because you know it's open you know you're extended that ball's in the right spot you feel good with your arms when you're trying to crank it down the line and from the moment that leaves your hand you know you went wide left long beach looking for their second ucla for their 20th we mentioned that it was a great run for the midwestern schools ohio state and loyola of chicago and then uc irvine under john sprawl he won his three championships as the head coach at uc irvine in 2007 9 and 12 before coming north to his alma mater what a match wow it has had everything two very talented very very well coached teams [Applause] [Music] long beach state is doing this hitting zero right now in set number five and ucla is also hitting zero pressure a long match and bowie these teams and their defenses have really figured each other out i think you'll a mystery should get after it here the one thing he's been missing is the little tail away that he had going early on where he was cutting it from his right to left defalco's over there now maybe he's trying to stay away from him but i would go back to hitting that serve service error again remember ucla at the end of set number four when they led 22-19 the bruins missed four in a row and they've missed four this set which is only to 15 as defalco goes back to the line for long beach state next sermon for ucla is jim if they can get out of this ucla must side out good pass insect rolls over the top championship point [Applause] [Music] and kofi jimma is going back to the line had three aces in the semifinals must serve hard must serve in otherwise the match is over in the championship to long beach state has to be in you concentrate on your rhythm here whatever your routine is a little hop and you concentrate on reaching and snapping [Applause] off the block and down hmm if you are truly the best team it doesn't mean you win matches easily all the time it means when you are pressed you respond you stay together you find a way to grind it out to get through the tough spots in order to come out victorious in the end that's what long beach state did in this match down 22-19 in the fourth set down two sets to one yep ucla helped long beach's cause with a handful of miss serves but what a championship match one for the ages long beach state now an ncaa champion for the second time and the first time since 1991 and ucla still searching for that elusive number 20 a look back kevin at championship point how about where the ball goes yeah all year long you developed your middle as it went along they didn't have many attempts in the middle throughout the mid part of this match and you have faith in it to go to it for the win amato was terrific down the stretch of this match offensively as well as getting touches getting stuffs and cranking his team along i would have bet you a lot of money that that set was going to go to ensing to close out the championship and now alan knight joins his olympic counterpart john spura as a coach and a player he is a national champion alan knight helped lead the 49ers to a national championship in 1991 and now in his 15th season at his alma mater he has led the 49ers to their second ever national championship what what a match and he put together the puzzle this year he had the big three left the guys who felt like maybe they should have won over the last couple of years ensing to aniga and defalco he added in a whole host of new guys to create what was the best team all year long and the best team when the final ball hit the ground so long beach state played ucla three times this year this was a classic this was by far the best match of them all and it was the best when alan knight and long beach state needed it and next year with the big three returning once again long beach state will host the national championship at the pyramid what a contest the 49th ncaa men's volleyball championship goes to allen knight t.j defalco jordan molina josh tuanega bjarn hoos among others yeah kevin and the real winner here too fans of volleyball in this game what an outstanding match yeah no question about that three sets to two long beach state wins it in dramatic fashion over ucla from my partner kevin barnett and our entire espn crew on paul sunderland thanks so much for joining us i hope you enjoyed it as much as we did it was a great one [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: NCAA Championships

Views: 223,154

Keywords: NCAA, ncaa sports, college sports, ucla, long beach state, long beach state volleyball, men's volleyball, 2018 volleyball championship, ncaa volleyball, ncaa men's volleyball, volleyball, full volleyball game, lbsu volleyball, the beach, ucla volleyball, full match, volleyball full match, ncaa volleyball highlights, ucla vs lbsu volleyball highlights, ucla lbsu volleyball full match, ucla vs long beach state volleyball, 2018 men's volleyball championship

Id: -9DztB6pi0s

Length: 147min 48sec (8868 seconds)

Published: Thu May 07 2020