By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Contributor
FORT WAYNE, Ind. ““ No one thought they could do it but
them. But when the smoke cleared Saturday at the NCAA men’s
volleyball championships, it was UCLA holding their index fingers
in the air, having won their 18th NCAA title after sweeping Ohio
State 15-8, 15-10, 17-15.
It was sweet in so many ways.
“It’s nice because at the beginning of the year you
look in Volleyball Magazine and we’re seventh,” senior
all-tournament MVP Brandon Taliaferro said. “It was a shock.
A good shock, but a surprise that they were counting us
out.”
But all the critics were silenced after the Bruins played a
near-perfect match against what UCLA head coach Al Scates called
“the best team the Midwest has ever produced.”
“OSU is a team that can do everything, they can block and
they didn’t have any weak hitters,” he said.
Both teams came out fired up, but it was UCLA that jumped out to
the early 5-0 lead while the Buckeyes had to play catch-up for the
entire first two games.
“I think that it hurt us because it made us feel like we
were always playing from behind,” Ohio State head coach Peter
Hanson said. “Even when we came back and tied the score, it
felt like we had to push to get that lead on them.”
Overall the Bruins served better in this match than they have
all season long, chalking up eight aces in only three games. Junior
Mark Williams and Taliaferro led the team with three each.
“They served very well and we couldn’t get in a
rhythm,” Buckeye setter Angel Aja said. “It’s
very hard for a team to get us out of our rhythm.”
It wasn’t until late in game three that the Buckeyes got
their first lead of the night, after a four-point run that put them
up 9-7. Suddenly their fatigue faded and behind the support of more
than 2,600 fans, the Buckeyes surged again to increase the gap to
13-8.
“They actually started to believe in themselves again and
went for it,” Taliaferro said. “We let a couple of
balls out and got a little tentative.”
“But once we calmed back down and started siding out we
started playing better,” he added.
Then UCLA senior opposite Ed Ratledge came in to serve. That
began a five-point run that put the Bruins back on top, 14-13.
A clutch ace by Taliaferro gave UCLA a 16-15 lead, but Ohio
State refused to die and kept siding out.
Finally, Taliaferro dug a ball up to senior opposite Evan
Thatcher who set it crosscourt to Williams for the putaway to win
it for the Bruins.
Ruthless on defense, the Bruins showed more hustle in the title
game than they have all year. Countless times they reached over the
scorer’s table or slid into the bench just to save a
ball.
“It seemed like they touched everything,” Buckeye
opposite Chris Fash said. “You got a chance to score a point,
you basically only get that one chance.”
There was more to the Bruins’ victory than just proving
all the skeptics wrong. For one, they needed to prove to themselves
that last year’s first-round loss to Hawaii was a fluke.
“After losing the first round, this year there was no
other choice but to try as hard as we could and win one this
year,” Thatcher said.
This season’s tournament favorite, No. 1-ranked Long Beach
State, was eliminated in the first round by eighth-seeded Loyola
Marymount.
That’s another reason why life is good, especially for
Ratledge. As a senior transfer from Long Beach State, Ratledge may
have wondered if he’d made a mistake as he watched the Beach
play in the NCAA final last year (where they fell to BYU).
But all doubts were washed away with the victory. “The
only regret I have is that I didn’t come to UCLA out of high
school,” Ratledge said. “I wish those three years (at
Long Beach) never happened.”
For seniors Thatcher, Davis, Taliaferro and Burnham, this was
their second championship. But for the two who didn’t see any
action in 1998 (Davis and Burnham), this time around the win was
all theirs.
“When you’re a huge part it’s just that much
sweeter,” Burnham said.
“It’s totally different,” Davis added.
“Everyone played a perfect match and we all contributed.
I’ve been waiting five years for this.”
How sweet it is.