Tuesday, February 16, 1999
Bruins easily take weekend matches
M. VOLLEYBALL: Entire team collaborates
to extend winning record; both SDSU, UCSD presented UCLA no
trouble, as expected
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Someone get UCLA coach Al Scates a new duster, because he used
his up cleaning and clearing the bench this weekend in San Diego.
The men’s volleyball team extended their winning streak to six with
easy wins over the San Diego State Aztecs and the UCSD Tritons.
Friday night the No. 3 Bruins (9-2 overall, 7-1 MPSF) defeated
the Aztecs (0-5, 0-5) in straight sets of 15-5, 15-8 and 15-5.
UCLA offensively overwhelmed the Aztecs, hitting for a .432
percentage against SDSU’s measly .074. They also recorded a
season-high 10 aces, with each player contributing at least one
ace.
Four hitters also managed kills in double-digits. Quick hitter
Adam Naeve and opposite Evan Thatcher led the team with 12 kills
each. Outside hitter Mark Williams was second with 11 kills and
quick hitter Danny Farmer had just one less kill with 10.
Naeve and Farmer were also valuable on the defensive front, as
Naeve led the team in block assists at six and Farmer led in digs
with nine.
The Aztecs’ leading player was outside hitter Tom Hunter, who
led SDSU with 12 kills. No other Aztec even came close to
double-digits. Nick Marbach’s four kills were the second highest
individual kill total for any other SDSU player.
Then, on Saturday night the Bruins crossed town to easily defeat
UCSD (2-9, 0-9). Although the Tritons were expected to fare far
worse against the Bruins than their Aztec counterparts, the numbers
indicate that UCSD put up more of a challenge. They recorded a .191
hitting percentage against the Bruins’ .405 and were swept by
slightly higher scores of 15-13, 15-9 and 15-4.
But as the Tritons weren’t expected to actually be any sort of
challenge, Scates saw this as an opportunity to give the backup
players a chance to play.
Backup quick hitter Matt Grace got his chance on Saturday.
Scates started Grace and fellow reserves Seth Champi, opposite Ed
Ratledge, outside hitter Matt Komer and setter Court Young, as well
as regular starter Fred Robins.
Champi, Grace and Komer recorded their first start of the
season, Young had his second while Ratledge had his third.
Regular starters Thatcher and Naeve didn’t even play, though
Farmer came in for a brief stint.
Ratledge recorded his highest kill total for the season and for
UCLA with 20. He also served an astounding six aces.
Both Grace and Champi were second in kills with nine each,
setting their own new career highs. Champi also set another career
high with six digs.
The Tritons were paced by outside hitter Zack Hite with 16
kills; however, with his 10 errors Hite only had a hitting
percentage of .200. Outside hitter Devon Jeffcoat added another
11kills.
The Bruins outblocked the Tritons as well, 12 to 6.
Wednesday night UCLA expects to extend its winning streak to
seven games with another win over the CSUN Matadors, whom the
Bruins easily defeated three weeks ago, 3-0.
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