Monday, April 20, 1998
Bruin tradition of dominating Loyola lives on in
quarterfinal
VOLLEYBALL: UCLA overwhelms outmatched Lions with tight
blocking
By Grace Wen
Daily Bruin Staff
The record continues.
The UCLA men’s volleyball team picked up its 56th win over
Loyola Marymount Saturday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation (MPSF) quarterfinal match. The Bruins handily beat LMU
15-10, 15-8, 15-2.
"We got off to a real slow start, but we stayed with the game
plan," head coach Al Scates said. "We stayed with their tendencies.
Eventually, Adam Naeve probably had his best blocking night of his
career here at UCLA. He really was a force at the net."
The sophomore middle blocker posted eight blocks, two aces and
16 kills at a .500 clip to lead all hitters.
In fact, four Bruins had hitting percentages of at least .500.
Fred Robins spiked 11 kills in 20 attempts with one error (.500)
while Tom Stillwell chipped in 13 and led UCLA in hitting
percentage at .667.
Setter Brandon Taliaferro hit .500 (4-1-6) and blasted five aces
to lead UCLA in serving. Though outside hitter Ben Moselle had only
nine kills, the senior helped UCLA win with two aces.
Loyola Marymount started off hot in game one after rattling off
the first six points off ball-handling errors by the Bruins. Though
they trailed 0-6, UCLA never wavered. The Bruins went on an 11-2
run that was sparked by a kill from Stillwell and an ace by Naeve.
Two hitting errors by LMU and a block by Naeve, and another kill by
Stillwell gave UCLA game one.
"It lets you know that the guys you’re playing are real good
when you take a 6-0 lead and they treat it like nothing happened,"
LMU head coach Rick McLaughlin said. "They just kept going about
their business and slowly got right back into the game."
UCLA quickly took control of game two and the match as the
Bruins jumped out to a 10-3 lead. The Bruin block shut down the
Lion’s offense, as LMU was blocked three times and had four hitting
errors. Despite scoring five more points, LMU never found its
rhythm as it played in spurts. UCLA took a 2-0 lead in games after
a hitting error and a miscommunication in the middle attack by
Loyola.
The Lions were never a factor in game three. The Bruins scored
the first seven points and never looked back. It seemed as though
UCLA would be on its way to a bagel when a hitting error by Naeve
gave LMU a point.
The Bruin block forced hitting errors again while Loyola got
into some passing trouble. The Lions could barely touch
Taliaferro’s serves and were aced three times by him. At 12-1,
Moselle joined the serving spree with his two aces. A hit out of
bounds by LMU’s Tim Farmer ended the match.
"The ratio I’m hoping for is one ace for three errors so when it
gets that good, I don’t think anybody can beat us," Scates said.
"We really got hot.
"They were pretty intense. To get that many jump serves in, you
have to stay pretty focused. We were hitting them pretty hard. I
was happy with our performance – not with our start but with our
finish."
Stillwell agreed.
"It was nice to advance," he said. "They’ve been hot lately,
LMU, so we knew they’d be a tough team. They started pushing us in
the beginning but then we stayed consistent, served tough and they
started letting down."
UCLA’s next match will be Thursday night in Pauley Pavilion
against Long Beach State. The fourth-seeded 49ers defeated BYU
15-7, 13-15, 15-9, 17-16 to advance to the semifinals of the MPSF
tournament. The other semifinal match will feature Pepperdine and
Hawaii at Hawaii.
* * *
The MIVA tournament (Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball
Association) concluded on Saturday night with Lewis University
defeating Loyola University of Chicago in a tight 3-2 match. The
Flyers won the fifth game 22-20 to earn the Midwest’s berth into
the Final Four. In the East, Princeton defeated Rutgers-Newark 3-0
to capture the NCAA bid in the East. Penn State, the winner of
seven EIVA championships (Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball
Association) was defeated in a semifinal match by Princeton.