Thursday, January 28, 1999
Waves drown UCLA in five-game set
RECAP: Despite strong comeback, Bruins can’t overcome slow
start, play of Pepperdine’s outside hitter
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
There was just one word for UCLA’s five-game loss to No. 4
Pepperdine Wednesday.
Heartbreaking.
The No. 1 Bruins (3-2, 1-1 MPSF) barely lost games one and two,
edged out by scores of 15-13 and 15-11. Then, in a dazzling display
of hard-hitting and quick spikes, they ruled games three and four,
15-5 and 15-4.
Then came the fifth game, also known as the rally round, in
which any and every serve will result in a point. But despite the
heroics of Danny Farmer, who led the Bruins in kills with 23, UCLA
dropped game five to the Waves (6-0, 2-0 MPSF), 15-11.
"We usually start off the game well, but we came out completely
flat in the first two games," said outside hitter Matt Davis. "I
don’t know what was wrong."
For the Bruins it wasn’t "what" that was wrong, but "who."
George Roumain, Pepperdine’s star outside hitter, slammed a
match-high 39 kills at a .451 hitting percentage. He was
practically the whole Pepperdine attack, as hitter Scott Wong and
middle blocker Don Killian were second with only 16 kills.
"We didn’t do a good job with George tonight. We knew what he
was going to do and tried to stop him, but he managed to do it
anyway," said UCLA coach Al Scates.
For the first two games, the Bruins combatted Roumain’s powerful
spikes with quick shots and trick shots, including a behind the
back spike by setter Brandon Taliaferro.
In game one, the Bruins and Waves traded points and UCLA had the
lead at 5-3 with a block from Mark Williams and Farmer. But
Pepperdine then went on a 5-0 run to make the score 8-5. The Bruins
scored eight more points, but couldn’t win game one.
Game two started and ended like game one. Pepperdine took the
first point with a block by Don Killian and built its lead to 4-2.
The Bruins tied the score when Pepperdine hitter Keith Barnett
twice hit the ball out of bounds.
After that, until the teams were tied at 10-10, it was a polite
game for both squads of scoring one point and then waiting for the
other team to catch up. The Bruins scored one final point, but
spikes by Wong and Killian made the score game-point – and then
Roumain, as he did constantly throughout the night, put away the
game with a kill.
For the next two games Scates tried a new strategy.
"We were trying to finesse them, and it wasn’t working. I told
Mark Williams he better start hitting hard or he was coming out,
and I put in Matt Davis to hit it hard," he said.
Williams quickly began spiking hard, scoring the Bruins’ first
point and fourth point. Davis, who has only played in one game this
season, sparked the team off the bench with 11 kills.
Even Pepperdine took notice of the two Bruins.
"Williams and Davis showed a lot to us tonight," said Pepperdine
coach Marv Dunphy.
With the score at 4-2 in favor of UCLA, the Bruins went on a 8-0
run, including two aces in a row by quick hitter Adam Naeve.
The Waves only scored two more points, however, and UCLA took
the game, 15-5.
Game four mirrored the "spike ’em hard and spike ’em fast" play
of game three. The Bruins took the first point of a 7-0 run when
Naeve slammed the ball at Roumain. Pepperdine got three points from
Roumain but then remained dormant when the Bruins went on a 6-0
run.
Roumain’s spike was Pepperdine’s last gasp at game four, but two
spikes ended the Waves hopes at 15-4.
Game five was the rally round, a fast-paced round that Farmer
starred in with five quick kills. He wasn’t enough, however, as the
Bruins continually hit the ball wide and committed errors,
including one when they expected the ball to go out of bounds –
instead, it hit the line for the Waves’ fifth point.
The Bruins and Waves traded points but after two points UCLA
trailed Pepperdine for the game. Roumain came back in top form,
earning five of the Waves’ points to take the score 14-8,
Pepperdine.
With Farmer’s ace and spike and Naeve’s block the Bruins made
the score 14-11, but that was it for a Bruin comeback. Taliaferro
spiked the ball out of bounds to finish the game – a quick end to
five hard-fought sets.
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