UCLA junior Austin Matautia was taken off the court on a stretcher on Saturday and will miss the rest of the season with a “season-ending ankle injury,” the school confirmed Tuesday.
Matautia, a 2016 Moanalua alumnus who transferred after playing two seasons at Hawaii, suffered the injury in the third set of a sweep of Penn State.
Damn shame for @AustinMatautia – get well soon! pic.twitter.com/x2aF3RUuKB
— MPSF Bias (@MPSF_Bias) March 10, 2019
The 6-foot-4 outside hitter had started all but one match for the fourth-ranked Bruins, who are 16-4 heading into road matches against Brigham Young on Thursday and Stanford on Saturday.
Matautia is fourth on the team averaging 2.41 kills per set while hitting .295. He had five kills in nine swings without an error and three service aces when he suffered the injury against the Nittany Lions.
Matautia, who made the Star-Advertiser All-State team all four seasons in high school, transferred to UCLA after starting nine of the 25 matches he played in as a sophomore for the Rainbow Warriors. He hit .349 and finished fifth on the team averaging 1.91 kills per set.
Get well soon and pray for a speedy recovery @AustinMatautia. We love you!
Austin I was very sad to see you leave UH,but you gotta do what’s best for you!Sad to hear about your injury,God Bless,and have a speedy recovery.