By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
FORT WAYNE, Ind. “”mdash; They journeyed over 2,100 miles to get
from California to Fort Wayne, Ind., an unfamiliar land where
Johnny Appleseed found his final resting place and Dave Thomas
opened his first Wendy’s restaurant. And it was there on the
floor of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum that, against
overwhelming odds, outnumbered almost 33 to one, they made the
arena their own.
This is not about the UCLA men’s volleyball team. It is
about the family and friends who made their own odyssey to Indiana
because they wanted to make sure that, miles from home, the boys of
Westwood knew who stood behind them.
“If the team’s coming, the parents are
coming,” said Cathi Burnham, the mother of senior quick
hitter Seth Burnham and freshman reserve Ian Burnham. She wore a
jersey with Seth’s number, No. 1, on it.
“It was just hard to get reservations for all of us at the
last minute,” her husband David Burnham added.
Still, the parents of several of the players, from sophomore
Matt Komer to seniors Ed Ratledge and Evan Thatcher, made the trek
across the country to support their sons.
It seemed of all the Bruin fans who came, Cathi and David
Burnham (and reserve outside hitter John Coon, who came with them)
had the toughest time getting to Fort Wayne. They had to go from
Santa Cruz to Los Angeles to Dallas, where they flew out just as a
lightning storm was starting.
To top that, they were originally supposed to get to Indiana on
Wednesday. Instead, a delay had them spending Wednesday night on
the floor of Chicago’s O’Hare International
airport.
“I think we won the award for who had the toughest time
getting to Indiana,” Cathi said with a laugh.
“But it was worth it,” David added.
Once they got to the match, it was as if the parents were the
ones on the court.
“I felt like I played the game,” said Cindy Coon,
the mother of John Coon and freshman quick hitter Greg Coon.
Cathi Burnham agreed. “When Seth serves, it’s like
my heart stops,” she said. “Especially those floaters
that just go over the net.”
But it was obvious the family members’ efforts were
appreciated. After the match ended and as the rest of the team
celebrated on the court, senior setter Brandon Taliaferro raced
into the stands, leapt over the seats and enveloped his mother in a
bear hug.
There were about 80 fans who supported the Bruins against 2,660
who were rooting for Ohio State (about a three-hour drive away from
Fort Wayne). Those cheering for the Buckeyes included the Penn
State team, whom the Bruins defeated in the semifinals on Thursday
and who were sitting behind the Ohio State bench.
“Even some of the Pepperdine fans were heckling us,”
UCLA senior opposite Evan Thatcher said.
Despite being surrounded by a sea of red, the UCLA fans made
themselves heard with some of the most aggressive cheering and
original heckling. Some of the volleyball players’ best
friends were there, most notably Clay Chilcott (a former volleyball
player) and Adam Wright of the men’s water polo team. From
the sidelines, dressed in their own uniforms of ’70s-style
checkered suits and sunglasses, they were the seventh and eighth
Bruins.
How tough were they? Ask Ohio State players Angel Aja, Chris
Fash, Rene Esteves and Colin McMillan, who had to hear it from
them.
“Hey Angel, why don’t you just hand it to us?”
(upon an Aja mistake).
“We’re in your head, Colin, we’re so in your
head!” (just before serving).
“It’s called volleyball, Chris!” (upon a Fash
mistake).
“Hey Rene, that’s an All-American serve!”
(upon Esteves’ serve going into the net).
“Hey Angel, nice serve, my grandma could do that!”
(same result).
As the match wore on the hecklers concentrated their energy on
first-team All-American setter Aja, who exchanged several looks
with them and even responded a couple times while the game was
still going on.
“Let’s be honest here. Angel didn’t quite hit
the mustard tonight,” Wright said. “We were definitely
in Angel’s head. He couldn’t even function.”
Asked why they chose to harass Aja, Chilcott said, “He
kept looking at us. Once you look at us, that’s a green
light.”
It didn’t show in his stats, but it did look at times like
Aja’s focus was shaken.
“From what I heard in talking to people, (the heckling)
totally rattled them up, especially their setter,” Thatcher
said.
Taliaferro agreed. “Those guys are professionals at what
they do,” he said. He added that though he wasn’t
listening to them, he knew during the game that his friends were
harassing the Buckeyes.
“It was like back home. We knew all those guys would be
there heckling them,” senior libero Matt Davis said.
At the post-match press conference, the Buckeyes were asked if
they were at all affected by the UCLA crowd’s taunts.
“No,” Fash said emphatically.
But Aja smiled.
“They were clowns. Most of the arena was our crowd, but I
saw the clowns. I saw them,” he said.
Saw and heard, that is. It was a very small Bruin contingent,
but it was one unafraid of a distant land, one unafraid of the
Midwest crowd and one unafraid to talk smack and bleed blue and
gold.
The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is not the legendary
Pauley Pavilion. But on Saturday there wasn’t any question as
to who really had home court advantage.