Tuesday, February 17, 1998
Bruin bulldozers demolish Aztecs, Tritons to remain
undefeated
VOLLEYBALL: UCLA sweeps both teams with tough blocking,
serving
By Grace Wen
Daily Bruin Staff
"They kicked our ass."
Those were the words of San Diego State head coach Jack Henn
after Friday night’s match against the UCLA men’s volleyball
team.
Friday the 13th proved to be very unlucky for the Aztecs as the
Bruins defeated San Diego State 15-13, 15-2, 15-5. Before a paltry
crowd of 351 in Pauley Pavilion, UCLA only needed an hour and 25
minutes to sweep the visiting Aztecs.
Outside hitter Fred Robins came off the bench to spark a flat
UCLA team that was actually trailing 4-7 in game one. Robins
replaced freshman Mark Williams who was struggling with his passing
and hitting. The junior tallied nine kills in 20 attempts for a
.300 attack percentage. Robins also added five digs during the
night.
"Freddy came off the bench and couldn’t do anything wrong," UCLA
head coach Al Scates said. "Every ball he hit seemed to go down. He
had a lot of variety on his hits – cut shots, off the block – he
was throwing a whole lot of junk at them and it was all going down.
And then his backcourt defense was really good too."
Despite beginning the season in the starting lineup, as of late
Robins has not been a starter, though he and Williams have split
time equally.
"It’s a big motivation," Robins said. "I’ve been practicing
hard, bringing the fire to the team. It paid off the last week in
practice. It paid off practicing hard."
San Diego State (1-5, 1-5 MPSF) held a three-point advantage in
game one but it would be their only lead of the night. After a UCLA
substitution, the Bruins (9-0, 6-0) came roaring back to score the
next seven points. The two teams traded points and sideouts but
aces at the end of the game helped UCLA close out the game.
In game two, the Bruins demonstrated their worthiness of a No. 1
ranking as UCLA quickly jumped out to an 8-0 lead. It seemed as if
UCLA was well on its way to skunking the Aztecs before a point was
finally scored. The Bruins used some tough serving and blocking to
virtually eliminate San Diego from the game.
"I think we got a little intimidated by their block and made a
lot of hitting errors that we’re not used to making," Henn said. "I
thought that was pretty evident in the first game. We had chances
in the first game and didn’t take advantage."
Game three was basically an extension of game two, as UCLA
exploited the Aztecs by bombing jump serve after jump serve.
Despite a valiant effort by senior Matt Hyden, who led all hitters
with 16 kills, San Diego State was never within striking distance
of the Bruins.
The Bruins served seven aces during the match while holding San
Diego State to a .104 hitting percentage. UCLA, on the other hand,
hit .389 as a team and outblocked the Aztecs eight to four. Evan
Thatcher and Danny Farmer led the team with 14 kills apiece.
"We just weren’t up for this one," Scates said. "We came out
flat. Once we saw where they wanted to hit we started taking it
away. The block took them out of it. I thought after a real slow
start, we played well."
* * *
On Saturday night, the Bruins continued their undefeated streak
as they swept the Tritons of UCSD 15-5, 15-13, 15-6. UCLA won for
the 28th consecutive time over UCSD (1-7, 0-6). Senior Tom
Stillwell led the team with 16 kills, eight digs and four blocks.
Farmer posted 9 kills while Ben Moselle contributed 8 kills.
Scates inserted the Bruins’ second team in the lineup for game
two. However, he replaced the second team with the starters when
UCLA went down 6-11. The Bruin starters tied the match at 13 and
went on to win 15-13.
UCLA is now 10-0 for the season with a 6-0 record in conference
play.